You
It's a beautiful night, just tell me can you see what's wrong?
Bound through, bound through the bars in the dark lines
Make them, these two nights in the same skyline
These two nights
This is the world
The fight is the fear, the fear
We're here with Gamblee Juno ahead of the
the lobby I'm gonna just go down the line I guess so we got PR first hey how are
you doing this morning I mean pretty good but I was waiting for an elevator
like 80 minutes today so that caught me off guard dude was crazy wasn't it like
if you I've I remember I was standing there and it was like 10 minutes and then
I get in the one and I realized oh this isn't even the right floor like it's
crazy it's going up it I feel like there's elevators are crazy so we're
gonna be having to keep an eye on that some players might miss some games it's
water there at the moment. But obviously you guys coming into this event, I came
really, really performed the last tournament. You know, Fort Worth was
it was incredible for you guys going into that event. So, I mean, that's got a
feel-you-full of confidence coming into this tournament. I mean, it did. It feels
good to hit playoffs again after such a long time and playing from the crowd. It
was it was a really nice feeling. So I think we gained a little bit of
conference and we're gonna do our best and if we play good and have maybe some
little bit of luck we can hit the playoffs here as well. Well we got a young player
here in P.O.A.T. but you now have snacks leading the team right now. How is that
be? I'm sure do you watch like snacks as a young kid when you were watching him
play? Do you remember his like big moments and when he was like a star
player and kind of showing at the top? To be honest I wasn't watching Counter-Strike
back then so I mean it's pretty good yeah but I watched some he was showing me
some clips like when he was young how he was playing I remember some A's on
Mirage and B-Apps with USP so yeah it was pretty good back then. Yeah he was pretty good, Snacks was pretty good but now
obviously happy to take more of a leading role. He was playing incredibly well as
well at the last event though like Snacks was having some master classes going on
there so how's that being sort of coming into the team like have you learned
anything from snacks he's staring at you right now by the way I learned a lot of
things he said everything I know is going back to the guy yeah I'm definitely
scared of him and he's the best guys yeah snacks is the best well let's go
talk to snacks are we he has he has invited us basically with the stare
I mean, you've just been so funny today, that's what it is.
I mean, obviously, rolling back the years that Snacks, the last of them, you were popping
off playing really well back in Fort Worth, so individually you had some great maps coming
into it.
Into game religion again, how was Snacks developed as an in-game leader from the last time you
played in game religion to now coming back for another time?
I developed very good with the help of my coach and the second coach of the Analyst,
I don't know how we called Dennis in our team.
He's a part of a family membership here.
So I think they're helping me a lot,
especially with the individual form as well.
I did some upgrades, let's say.
It was good last time, but I wasn't sick.
And now I feel a little bit sick.
So I don't know how it's gonna be, you know.
Last time when I was sick, I got the worst rating in my life.
Oh, so we'll keep an eye on that then.
But you know, you're a student here in America
a couple of years ago in Dallas.
I remember a big performance then.
You guys are one of the finals.
So that was insane.
You feel like you've got some good form
when you come to the USA, it feels like.
You were getting to the finals all the time at this point.
I know back in the days, I always loved to come here.
They have a lot of good barbecues and food
and I'm enjoying myself here.
But last, let's say eight months,
I was trying to a little bit fix my health issues,
let's say, and a little bit get rid of my fat, you know.
And after two weeks here already,
I'm like, I think two weeks is too much
to be in America you know I'm gonna become because I don't know three years ago it's real hard you
know and you guys are here obviously between forward the now so you've had like a week off so
what did you guys get up to I do have some good barbecue you have some good meals I mean I had
followed the show Korean barbecue and the cheesecake factory like usually the three I'm
ever is coming to and I had the terrace back in my wife as well I probably gonna visit someone
as well still yeah I mean we're here in Atlanta you guys gotta get some peaches you gotta get some
peach cobbler that's what I picked up yesterday it was pretty damn good so you got to try that
you should try it yeah all right i mean i'm looking for it then yeah it's real good um
you know the cheesecake factory menu it's kind of ridiculous isn't it bro it's like i feel like
did you show the calories there i feel like it's a i don't know i think it's a cup like really like
i don't know yeah the calories are like 2 000 calories for one like pasta dish but the menu is
like this thick dude it's crazy it is i mean whatever you want to eat there you can eat everything
but do you not gonna have a space for cheesecake after?
I always find some space for the cheesecake.
What's your go-to cheesecake, cheesecake factory?
I mean, usually, I mean, I don't know actually, it's random, you know?
I like to always take the Cesar Salad, you know?
Okay.
And they're asking the big one or small one.
I'm thinking the small one is a big as fuck, you know?
Yeah, no, dude.
Do you never have to order anything big here in America?
That's for sure.
But okay, so coming into this event, a question about the Counter-Strike.
Obviously, some great form coming out of Fort Worth.
I think Vitality obviously kind of humbled you on the first map but coming back to that second some really cool performances from you guys in that final.
Were you proud of the team to not completely disappear when you got banged out by Vitality though?
I think yeah. I mean the Mirage was tough obviously and they crushed us.
But none of us were back so I can tell there is an incident in the team that we want to fight still even there is something not going in our way.
So, yeah, I'm really happy that we could have fought it on the other person,
probably with one maybe pistol, because we lost both of them.
We could have taken them up and go to the third one, so yeah, it was nice.
Alright, coming into Atlanta, what's your expectations of this event?
Like, looking at Game Legion, have you had a conversation about what you expect to get here?
Last time in Atlanta, I don't know what was last time in Atlanta.
I remember 2017. It was tough in the final, you know.
And I hope it's gonna be final again. Yeah, but maybe not the first release. We all remember that one as PR even watch that game
I don't even know if you see no no, I probably play more contest like that. He's on this planet, you know, yeah
18 years old, okay
Oh, wow, that's your I was born so
I'll see you in the next. Thank you very much
But let's go talk to some of the other other plays and see we got tell us in here. I got a chair. Oh, yeah
How are you doing? Coming into Atlanta.
I'm doing good coming in. We had like a week off.
We played CS but we had some time off so it was nice.
What did you do?
Went to the pool, ate some good food.
Got sick?
Got sick as well.
That's not good.
What kind of sickness are we talking like?
Fever? Or are we hiding in bed?
I mean, not fever. It's like a sore throat and a black nose and a headache as well.
Alright, pass.
Not good.
Oh, shit.
It was a win.
Yeah, it's okay.
I'll pick it up as the event goes on.
I'm sure.
But okay, so classic, classic LAN flu symptoms.
I mean, obviously, for Game of Legends, massive result coming in, in Fort Worth.
Do you feel like the sickness is going to affect you guys coming into this week?
Or are we going to keep it on?
No, we're pretty used to this one.
I think PR has like sickness every when we play almost.
We're used to it.
What are we going to do to boost his immune system?
Get some more barbecuing?
You're like kicking him out of the team.
OK, that's fair enough.
He can't be around people.
All right.
No, when this is coming, you need to get rid of it, you know?
Yeah, the weakling.
The weakling.
Kind of the weakness.
But OK, well, I look forward to seeing you guys.
What's your biggest enjoyment so far this year, Pete,
and Telsen?
Because I think last year, we got to see some great performances
from you individually.
Game Legion had a lot, I think, positive things towards the start
of last year, then obviously fizzled out.
And we didn't get to see you guys for a long time.
So what's been the best thing about this year for you inside of this game-religion squad?
I think the best thing for us this year is probably winning on the big stage against Astralis.
I think that was like the biggest highlight so far, of 2026.
And then yeah, let's see if we can continue with that performance in this year.
Alright, looking forward to it. Well, thank you very much to this game-religion ahead of Atlanta.
Excited to see it. Hopefully they all feel better. I mean, it's best to be getting better.
And hopefully PR can, you know, get their immune system boosted a little bit against some vitamins or something.
Yeah, all right. Well, thank you very much. I'll see you guys later
Rise anything you really wanted to say on the microphone. Is there anything in particular you want to really want to get out there into the world?
I mean
I mean, I think I have a good like
History here in America. I think that's true. Yeah, that is true. We're not an Oakland particular event, right?
All those many many many centuries ago back then but you know coming into you feel like you're still riding a high from Oakland
You know, how's that really feel and coming into Atlanta? No, of course, it always feels good
like when I'm here and I mean I don't think I'm riding that high anymore but
still like every time I mean this place has a special place in my heart always
and that's why I really enjoy playing here and so yeah hopefully I can bring
another trophy back from this place and that would be sick.
That would be sick I mean you guys like I would say from the outside perspective
we probably wouldn't have considered game legion team that could do a lot of
damage if it wasn't for Fort Worth but that has kind of changed everybody's
perspective now on your team. And I think coming into a tournament like this where the field is not
necessarily the strongest, I think we do feel very confident about game religion and what you
guys can do. Do you feel that same sentiment? Yeah, of course. I think even like when we went to the
in Fort Worth event, we went really far, like much farther than we probably expected. Like I think
after that event, we kind of realized like that we can actually, we can win against these teams
and we can actually win an event here. And I think going into this event is definitely like the same
I would say the teams here are in a similar calibre as the previous events, so definitely
think we have a good shot here, that's what we want to do.
There's one big team here that's the same, there's obviously Vitality, so when you guys
played them, what do you take away from that game when you look back on it?
I mean, whatever you say is like, you can feel that they're humans, they're not robots
and they are beatable.
And they haven't been practicing, they've been out in Yosemite and having a good time.
That's what drops that, if anyone can beat them, it should be around this time, right?
And maybe this event, who knows?
And if they do win, even it don't land this way.
I know, I know, I know.
But yeah, I mean, this is an event where I do, personally I'm feeling very confident.
I'm excited to see the game of Legion play.
But you mentioned something that happened a long time ago, which is the Oakland performance.
But another round of that, then I was off the snacks, you know?
But he's back and you've got to play with him for a while now.
How's that feeling being playing with Snakes?
I mean, it's definitely a cool experience, because you can really feel his experience
that he's been around for a long time, and I guess a really good view on the game.
And I think like, he thinks very similar to me, and how we view Counter-Strike,
because I mean, we're not from the exact same era of Counter-Strike, but kinda similar maybe,
that we developed in the same era as Astralis and all those teams that had these technical dismetters.
I think that's why we think so alike right now and I think that's nice and I'm very comfortable around me.
Yeah, so PR hasn't even watched him man, even in watching Counter-Strike back when Snacks was top of the world.
So it's pretty crazy. Is that crazy for you to realize you're playing with teammates like that, that young?
Yeah, I feel like the time flies by so quick when you see these kids, you know,
and it's fun as well to be in their, what can you say, development, like their progress, you know,
It's really fun to see these kids develop.
Because you were obviously one of those players,
and a very young player coming into a team
with experienced players.
So do you have anything you've learned
from your experience and your career
that you can maybe pass on to them?
Maybe we can help PR stop getting sick every event,
is that what you're saying?
That's one of the main goals right now, I think.
Like, it's actually a sick every event, but, you know,
look at him.
As long as you're sick in the server too, you know?
Sorry?
As long as you're sick in the server as well.
Yeah, that is fine.
That's an experience there, you know?
I mean, yeah.
I do my absolute best to bring my experience to them, you know, all these things.
Well, one of the big problems for Gamelay is that he's been AWPer over the recent months.
He's been hard to find a consistent AWPer to fit into the team.
Hypex was popping off the last event, he had some crazy moments, so I'm sure that gives
you a lot of confidence as a team when you can look down at your AWPer and see him capable
of pulling off big highlight plays.
Of course, I think, I mean, I felt it as soon as he joined the team, like I saw it when
this guy gets comfortable with us and gets the experience he needs, he's going to perform
really well. I'm starting to see now that he gets more and more comfortable and you can
see in the server that he has this, he's starting to get these highlights that he had in Betflicking
and those things that he played in. He's a flashy upper and he can do these insane highlights
and he just needs to be comfortable. I can see that he's happening now.
He gives us one of the moments to get excited about when everything thought kind of flattened
the arena back when you're playing in forward.
That overpass clip on the A bomb side,
like that was the big highlight one.
So I guess I should go talk to him about it, right?
Yeah, sure.
Thank you very much, Rez.
Appreciate it.
All right, we'll move over and talk to Highbanks real quick.
Highbanks, we just want to hit you real quick.
Obviously, you've given us a lot to shout about
and get excited about from the last events
and flashy alt plays.
I was just talking to Rez about how we're starting to see,
you hit those clips in those plays
that you were hitting in your other teams.
So have you just started to feel a lot more comfortable finally inside of this game of legion team?
Yeah, I mean, I think it's a growing system that came with a lot of pressure on me, I think as I said before, I felt stressed every event.
I think now it's just getting better and better, getting more comfortable.
And yeah, I mean, I think there's a lot of potential in the sign up.
So I'm happy to show what I can do.
So obviously you see all the alpers, we're just getting caught over and over again in game of legion before you.
So did that add like a certain level of pressure coming into it?
Like knowing that, all right, if I don't perform, I'm just next on the long list of game of legion alpers that didn't work out.
Yeah, I mean, I knew it straight away. I was like, I knew what happened here before. So yeah,
I had a lot of pressure coming in and a lot of eyes on me, a lot of HMTV guys saying shit,
but I just tried to not read it at some point and then just carry on. I mean,
they believed in me after the New Year's when they didn't swap me out. So that gave me a lot of
confidence as well. Yeah, some belief in your teammates to back you and obviously you've seen
some results from it now. So Fort Worth, you stepped up, you had my favorite highlight of the event
in terms of the AWP department on the A-bomb side, so I've overpassed, so for you an event like that,
I mean you just get going again at Lantern, try and continue that form.
Yeah, I mean hopefully the event's going to be better now personally. I don't think I had some
bad two games in the middle of the event, but I'm glad that in the last game I got some highlights
against Vitality. We could have pulled that overpass through, who knows what would have happened
on Nuke. I mean it's Vitality at the end of the day, so yeah I mean we're happy that we were able
to perform on the second map. Alright, so what has been one of the things you've done to try and get
get mentally stronger from when you started in gaming legend to now,
where you feel more confident.
What's some of the methods you've taken to get into a better mentality?
I just realised that what people say doesn't really matter.
I mean, everyone just hates for the hate and reason.
I mean, Zai was the go and everyone hates on him,
so he basically makes not a lot of mistakes and everyone hates it.
I think it doesn't matter. I just don't read anyone.
If I do see something, I just laugh.
I think that's the most important thing.
You can shut him up with some good plays on the server and that's the main thing.
So, well, looking forward to seeing you guys play here in Atlanta
and hope we'll get some more highlights.
So, thanks.
Appreciate it.
Thank you very much.
So, yeah, it's game of the legion here in Atlanta.
We found the tourists, I think we would call them.
They come to Counter-Strike events.
They don't practice.
They win them.
And then they go on mini vacations.
So right now, we've got a Mezzie and we've got a Zywoo.
The rest of them, I imagine, still taking photos, sir.
Could be still on holiday, I don't know, actually.
I don't know what they're doing.
Was it nice to disconnect from the, what would we call them?
The young three, Robs, Flamesy and Zawood,
the Rapscallions, you were away for them for a couple days?
I was a little worried for them, John.
She never knew what could happen.
I think Robs is, I think if it was just Flamesy and Zawood,
I think the bear would have taken them, I think.
But I think with how lucky Zawood-
We've got them like one fancy-
Well, hold up, mate, hold up.
I need you to, sorry, mate, sorry, sir.
I need you to talk on the microphone.
Okay, we could have done one Flamesday, gets 100 beer.
I think he's gonna still win it.
Really? You back your boy that much?
You didn't seem in the woods, he was crazy.
One of the Flamesday gets more beer.
Well, hold up.
Guys, guys!
Where am I going?
What are we doing?
You can't, this is inception vlogging.
It's an inception vlogging here.
Film the cameraman, not me.
Oh, film us.
Okay, hold up, wait, hold up.
I need these, this hand.
I'm talking to the lobby, mate.
Oh, no, no, sorry, yeah.
What's up?
I'm here to try and do fun stuff.
You guys have been having a lot of fun?
Yes, yes, we had a lot of fun.
Me, Mathieu and Robin in Yosemite.
Michelin team on Apex and Messi.
Have they come back like 15 kilos heavier and you guys are looking more...
I think they walked a lot.
We prepared, we only had two meals a day so we had the restaurant in the evening
and like a brunch lunch time.
And then we did some paddles, some gym.
The goal was not to gain any weight.
I still want to see if it's been, we've been able to do it, but
we were very clever with how we did it.
We didn't want to gain too much weight, so...
Okay, perfect. You know, it's not I was gonna make a UFC reference, but I don't know if anyone would do a Rogan of Connoisseur
You did say that to me don't say that on there. That's gonna. It's cancer. It's like a look
He's a divisive figure mate people where they love him or hate him. Okay. I don't know. I
You know, it just it's just up in the UFC business. Yeah, he's there a lot and you're up in CS business
Yeah, I'd hope so. Yeah, so maybe I'm in the wrong place. No, I think you're in the right place
Why don't you want to go to watch the basketball with the boss man? Well to be honest, I
I'm not into like I'm not a big basketball. Yeah, I'm not a big sports guy
Not to be honest. I'm not but Robin trip was a bit sounded a bit more fancy to me
He would recommend the nature hiking. I'm all about his life
But there was there was three tank was he a part of Jack. Were you part of the the messy apex team or?
Jeez, he was on his own. He's a zone team him and
Him and Matt. Yeah, do you not see them on live television?
Yes, I did I did see it. I thought to myself you could pay in this car too much
I will no comment on that he was called side made those tickets can't be cheap. Is that coming out of your prize money?
It looked like you were called side. They were pretty good seats. I saw I had but I
Don't know these they have connections Jack has connections apparently he's got some people inside of the NBA getting him good tickets there
Do you want to officially comment on this sir?
Hold up, let me bring the microphone.
This has been the most chaotic mic session.
The truth is Matu, being the French superstar that he is, has some connections with both
Rudy Gobert and Victor Wembanyama, so he was able to pull some strings and help us get
a good discount on tickets.
But they were not courtside.
We actually tried to sneak courtside at the end of the game because of blowout and security
were really unhappy with us.
I can imagine so.
You mentioned two basketball players. Can you maybe give me Australian sporting athletes of all time who they would be compared to?
Because I'm Ian Thorpe. Thorpey, mate. Yeah, he's making a very specific reference there. I see. Okay
Big hands. Yeah big hands big feet. Big hands. I mean big head
Wemby's just he's a freak, mate. There's no one like him. Okay. He's
What's up, what's up?
But Zawa, because he's the king of French counter-strike, is he up there with those
boys?
He going out hanging out with the NBA guys?
I think at the moment Zawa is ahead of Wemby.
Wemby's young.
Okay.
He's got a lot of potential, but like he doesn't have the level of dominance, but he could
be as dominant as Matsu.
Okay.
I'd say that Wemby's at the level of like maybe Shane Warren.
It's real warning, really.
Really?
Really, in reference.
It'll be a race between Zahou and Wemby
as who is the greatest French performer of all time.
Wow.
OK, that sounds great.
Although Wemby goes to Tibetan monasteries in his off season.
Shane Wong had different extracurricular activities.
His were of a different lifestyle.
Yeah.
Yeah, Spinbolla.
Spinbolla, yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah, okay, the Brits know yeah, yeah that the French not really into the cricket. I don't imagine
Let let me go and grow somebody. I want to go we're gonna mix things up. I'm going down the other end
Sorry, so I'm whacking people and yeah, here we go. Mr. Robin call. Were you the planner of the Yosemite trip?
I initiated it. Yeah, would you recommend that to other people?
You may be going to the to the States thinking is Yosemite a good place to go. Would you recommend it 100%?
Okay, so what's the what were the highlights there besides the bear?
Oh, we had two days. So, you know, there's a lot of things to do most of you know, like take the different trails and hike
We didn't have time to do that. So we just got to know the valley. The valley itself is really massive
And we saw the mountains we brought bikes. I think the bikes were the highlight for us
We just you know, did a whole tour on the valley of the bikes
Talk to some locals, you know
Talk to some people who have climbed the mountains there and what it's what it's like and you know
Some people just go chill and they watch their family members hike or sorry to climb the
Capitaine for example.
That's really cool.
Nice.
I woke up this morning obviously as a degenerate like I am over my phone Instagram I saw you
put up a bunch of pictures and it looks beautiful.
It's yeah it's one of my bucket list destinations.
Okay.
All right.
That's cool.
I'll definitely go back when I can.
Okay.
Nice.
Matthew do you have a good time out there in the wilderness?
Yeah it was perfect.
The view, the valley, all the people there was insane and we had a good time all together as a team.
Okay, so you're only there for two days, so what are we doing with the rest of the time?
Actually, what do you mean the rest of the time?
The first two days we stayed in the house, played a bit of CS because actually when I was doing the planning, it was really dependent on the weather.
So, we arrived Wednesday, Thursday, Friday in Yosemite and actually the days before,
so right after Fort Worth, the Monday, Tuesday, it was like less than 10 degrees Celsius.
It was really cold in Yosemite those days, so we chose those three days to be there and
the two days we spent fully there.
And yeah, it kind of depends on the weather and the rest of the time Monday, Tuesday,
we'll split CS in Fort Worth.
Okay, so yeah, okay. Well, North American couch like us on teams about that
But I guess did you travel straight from your 70 to here?
So you guys came as like different groups, or did you like you did?
Yeah, different groups
So was it fun to be away from some of the other guys for a while?
Yeah, we're tired of each other. So it's been good to, you know, baby is of it
So yeah, finally we came back, but it was good to
The leader of this this is star player and finally, yeah, okay. Well, great. All right. So I
I guess this is a type of tournament where everyone's thinking it's going to be another vitality trophy lift another vitality Navi final is this
Look you guys get these questions all the time
So I'm sure you're fed up of like oh, you know you hit a win
We know you're not practicing we know you've been hanging out that you can warm into the tournament
There's not that many good teams here, but we got to be fair about that
We can't be bullshitting anybody that well it'd be we'd be lying down and we don't want to do that
We want to be honest
Yeah, so you come here the expectation
Like I've seen any interviews. It's you know when we're here we want to win
But lifting another trophy in a row you're trying to go for you know, seven straight the last season
What do how can we make it better? What can Matthew? What can we do to make the winning better?
Can we make is it possible to make the winning better? I?
Mean winning is winning like it's always good to win
Even though maybe like in Dallas we didn't show the emotion of it
That's because also the way we played, we were happy with it, but a win is a win, it doesn't matter which tournament is it, maybe it's a better team or anything.
What if you win in every game 13-0?
Of course, because it also means we play good and we want to improve our game, our team.
So it doesn't matter against who we face, against who, what tournaments we're going to play.
The way to win the tournament is to play good also.
Yeah, I don't know so I'm saying you know a bit like yeah
We want to you want to beat everybody you know 13-0 and pants that made them run around the table that type of stuff
Okay, make other people have a miserable time
Maybe nuts, but we like to win that's the points. You're the nightmares for everybody else at the moment. I
Don't know. We need to ask them. Did you ask them? I think I'll ask the next thing. It's in us
So I'm not sure they're gonna have an answer just like
Oh, this is it. Hold on. I have to ask this. You'll agree. So I'll ask you. I'm going to
come this side so I can go to Dan next. I was just talking with Navi and they said, I said,
listen, if you guys, it's Grand Final again, it's Navi versus Vitality. And I said to Mikasa,
said, Mikasa, you're the best ancient player in the world, mate. But Vitality, they ban it.
And he said, all right, let's make, let's do this. They don't ban ancient and we won't ban
overpass and we run it like that. What do you reckon? Could be fun to find it like this.
Imagine we win the ancient. Imagine. I'm imagining. Well then what do you say?
Well then how the world's hands? Well then you're the best ancient team in the world.
Well you lost one to Fury. You lost to Fury last time. Last time.
Oh okay. I look with you boys of all time. I'm looking always of all time. That's what
That's what we're dealing with these days.
Dan, you've been talking about how fun it was to not be with the team.
Yeah.
What was your favorite thing you did?
Just eating and drinking wine.
Sounds pretty French to be honest, but now we enjoy it.
It was a good moment together with my dear Brits.
It's not often that you see a Brit and a French hanging out together.
It's new for us as well, but now it was just fun.
a bit too ecstatic in New York, too many people.
But yeah, like the experience was nice.
Okay, all right.
I don't have too many questions
because you guys are, you know,
you get asked questions all the time.
I was trying to be more fun, more variety.
I asked Matthew a serious question.
As soon as I started asking it,
I regretted all my life choices.
So I, no, no, no, because,
no, it's not your fault.
It's my fault, mate.
I'm the dickhead asking the same fucking questions
you've been asked a hundred times.
So that's correct.
That's bang on.
Mr personality right here, are you looking for a HairClip sponsor?
Is there any company to do that?
The companies that make the HairClips.
I'd love to be a Victoria's Secret model.
lingerie?
They have hair clips no?
They have hair clips?
lingerie
I don't know just for the hair clips.
I don't know if Victoria's Secret do hair clips do they?
Well we can invent it, we can become the new sandwich of georgias you know it could be good.
We could be the Joe and the Juice of the HairClip world.
Exactly, exactly.
How much money do you need to keep that business off?
I'll invest.
I work in Me and You.
And we just need 20K.
20K?
No, no, no.
This is Me and You.
OK, all right.
Well, yeah, that's pretty easy.
We can do that.
We'll make it online.
And if people order sandwiches, then we...
Whoa, wait, wait, wait, wait.
Why are you talking about sandwiches?
I thought we were doing hair clips.
Ah, I reckon this is what I meant.
We can do anything you want.
We can make.
For me, you're a Churchill, mate.
You can do anything you want.
You gotta be careful with this guy around, right?
Well, actually, I'm kind of British as well.
Oh, yeah, you are?
I got a British passport.
Well, you guys, you were Chileans, they're just British.
It's crazy.
300 years ago, the country was...
Not that long ago.
They said, well, I don't know.
Do I like New Zealand?
That's an interesting question.
Why is that sounds like a loaded question?
I don't know.
We have different perspectives of it.
I think Sydney is better, right?
Yeah.
Yeah, Sydney is...
Oh!
Wait, wait, wait.
Where are you from again?
Sydney.
Sydney's better than where?
Mate, no one goes to Perth.
No one goes to Perth.
It is great. It's beautiful.
Sydney's iconic.
But yeah.
You're not defending it.
Look, there's no point defending it.
This is an outperth.
They understand it's their place.
I thought it was right.
Jeez.
It's just too far away.
It's a bit, yeah.
Here's what I say after you guys win the Singapore Major, come down to Perth, right?
And you can, I have a place right on the beach, right?
You guys can stay there.
It's beautiful.
You have a great time and you'll enjoy more than Sydney.
Yeah, I think so too.
I think so too.
I would enjoy it to come.
Okay, you're invited.
You're all invited.
I got enough bedrooms.
We should make it work.
All right, boys.
I've fucked around, I found out, I've used it now for your time.
We finally arrived at our last day here for the group stage of the Intel Extreme Masters.
It's Atlanta, the 2026 big Umi here with me.
We're ready to talk a little bit about everything up to this point, but why is it that we need
to start talking about how Bet Boom beat Vitality Investor 3?
That was the story of the day.
I mean, we were talking about Vitality as being this infallible object coming into this
year.
They win every tournament that they seem to attend, but to think that Bet Boom of all
people with boomage at the helm was able to take them down where so many teams that are higher
ranked with higher expectations have failed before them. Which is it's a pretty bizarre scene, right?
I mean even Apex himself or even if you look at Vitality, people are mortal. They can be beaten
in this game. It's just been a very long time since we've seen it happen to Vitality in a fashion
that it did. But that does set us up for a little bit of where Vitality goes from here. You know,
they're going to have to play two games today to qualify. Yeah, I mean, it's also the conversation
we've been having about the lack of practice for vitality. Is that now catching up with them is a
conversation we seriously need to have. But then it's also this idea that they're only the second
team this year that have been able to take a series, a match. It doesn't matter whether it's
been a best of one, best of three, best of five format, teams don't win against the vitality this
year. So for vitality, it's kind of panic stations. And since we're talking about teams that don't
necessarily win very often, this is the perfect time to talk about BC game. God, I mean,
What do you even say about this team because they actually did press vitality quite heavily
But they failed to tame them the same way that boom itch it was able to you know boom
Which actually took to telegram and described himself as a beekeeper. I am a beekeeper
I think word for word, but his ex teammates from the good old days of Navi
They don't have that same special touch. Yeah, it doesn't seem like it's going as well in these later stages
but for a team like BC game, yes, exciting to watch. Yes, it's exciting. It's on everyone's radar
because you want to see it kind of come together right. But then also the idea that they go into
that lower bracket, they play a bait only to get bullied by baits of all things. So, yeah, there's
a lot of surprises, a long road to go for that BC game roster. Speaking of long roads, it's a
really, really long road down to the country of Brazil. That's pretty far away from Atlanta,
but between Atlanta and Astana, we are getting some Brazilian show of force. Yeah, it's been
a surprising resurgence. There's a spring in the step and it's the spring season for
Brazilian South American counter strike as a whole. So to see all of them guaranteed into
the playoffs across Atlanta, Anastana, like you said, is a great sign for things to come,
especially with them all leading into the major.
Yeah, let's just really quickly talk about this pain legacy combo.
Odds are then pushing through to where they need to be and making a big run here on the stage.
I think every single result is a massive win for them. And international results have been
fleeting for the South American region coming into this year. So it's just a nice rallying
beacon of hope for the fans from that region. And it also shows that because we've had this divide
from European, South American, Asian competition, that these separated regions actually can put up a
fight. Well, fighting is on the cards today. So with that being said, yes, we have the ability,
the potential to eliminate a vitality. That's even unheard of. That doesn't sound right. I don't
i don't know my script must be wrong something must be way off here either way
it's the intelligent as a land enemy so let's party on let's do it
The Ace is the champion of the Intel Extreme Master of the Lord Files.
Spirit's still not ready, but the Dalek see is going to take this fight for three seconds left.
The last two rounds, it's going to start with one thing you see.
As this is a monster move you'll see, when he's not fit to attack, we just make this kill.
He will just knock him out.
She will be defeated.
And it's all done.
I'm sure this will end.
Unbelievable road.
with a 4-0 victory over classes and they did it again in the Blackboard!
It's Boboom!
Give it up for your Intel Extreme Masters!
What the hell are you talking about?
The Intel Extreme Masters Atlanta 2026 is brought to you by ESL in partnership with Intel,
Acer Predator,
DHL,
Czechs,
and ZONE.
Apex Team Vitality.
Everyone in the whole world knows who you are at this point.
You guys keep winning trophies,
and then sometimes things go a little bit sideways.
So let's just focus on the fun stuff like yesterday.
What happened yesterday, bud?
What happened today is that we played really poorly, felt like we lack of energy, lack of a lot of stuff, and we didn't play well.
Obviously, I didn't even see the start, but it's a second team that beat Vitality this year.
That has to happen, we're not invincible, we know that.
It's always a good reminder to show to ourselves that we need to stop our face a bit if we start to play that way.
But today turns into a much different day because of the loss, right?
Vitality not used to being in these situations where potentially you could have two best
of three to then go on and play in those playoffs, right?
So tell me, does that shift any of the focus or shift any of the way you guys prepare coming
into it today?
No, I think we already have done that.
In Chengdu, for example, we lost also that second game against Maus and we had to go
through the lower bracket.
So Nightslife for us is just one step at a time, one game at a time.
Of course this year we haven't been in this situation, but yeah, we have to learn every
situation and fight for every situation, so let's see how it goes.
I just like to think that you guys are just keeping it entertaining for the viewers at
home by doing that, but in doing so you have to play face today.
How does that game go?
Well, I think they are in rebuilding after Karrigan left.
Two years have to take over at the LGL, they have a new coach, they have a new French
blood as well.
No, I mean, it's always the case that if we bring our high game, we're going to win.
I'm not sure we're going to bring our high game today, but we will do our best.
But yeah, they've been rebuilding.
They've been playing some good CS sometimes, some worse CS sometimes.
So I don't know which one we're going to face today, but it's once again, Holi Nahrens.
Good luck to you, Dan.
Thank you.
Welcome to the final day of the group stage this year at the Intak Stream Masters Atlanta
2026.
So we've got Team Vitality versus FaZe, two of the biggest organizations in Counter-Strike.
But a clear favorite coming into the game today.
Showing the bleed though yesterday, losing to Betboom, Team Vitality in the lower bracket.
This is a strange situation, but one that I'm sure if it was going to happen would be at this event
after such a relaxing time for Vitality, you know, going on vacation, not practicing, being very open about that.
I want to know, do you think FaZe have any chance in this game today, Jason?
not at all to be honest with you I actually I actually think that this
especially the face coming in especially listening to apex there I think you know
yesterday after that loss to bet boom I bet there's absolutely no panic no stress maybe a little bit
of frustration after the fact just due to the nature of the losses apex was talking about low
energy but that felt more like a loss that is the bucket of cold water that wakes you up
that gets everyone fired up that's an easy thing to come into the game today and have the whole
team focus we just saw them sit down the team cheer Rob smile and grinning ear to ear I think
there's going to be a completely different mood and you add on to that you know apex had some
some really kind words to say about Kerrigan with all the doubt that's been expressed about
Kerrigan over the recent months with his tenure in FaZe and now his departure over to Falcons.
And he just mentioned too, he's got a ton of respect for Kerrigan, an incredible in-game
leader and he said it's so much harder to play against an in-game leader like Kerrigan
than some of these new younger IGLs and you can add twist into that bucket with his inexperience
in the role even though he did a little bit of Unliquid.
Apex is going to sit there and be like I can run circles around this guy because I have
all the years of experience, I've got all the trophies as a captain, I've become one
of the best to ever do it. And I think now we see Vitality come in, lock in, and just
smash FaZe out of this tournament, out of IEM Atlanta. Pistor round about to go live.
It's going to be Vitality on the CT side of Nuke. FaZe attacking into the none of the
T side.
Oh, Nuke not looking fantastic for Vitality, especially yesterday. So FaZe saying if they
can get a chance here on this map. Starting T side, plenty of UTEL. For us, they're going
to break open the squeaky door. For us, I will charge you outside with some confidence.
Sting for the headshot on Jacob, a twist to try to have a big conversation around
FaZe Clan and how good they are on the pistol rounds.
Well, they're currently behind on players, thanks to that shot from Apex.
Yeah, nasty shot from Apex, just as Twist is making the drop at Robs.
He's gotten transition, moving back into position, that's frozen to pick him up.
So all across the map, two players falling for each team and Vitality's struggling to close this gap.
Apex in the open, two players fighting, good kills.
Yeah, really comfortable on this pistol round for Team Vitality.
It's just Broke, he left over towards Ramprum.
Apex comes from him as well.
And a very strong start from Apex.
Three kills in the pistol and Vitality.
Happy about this start.
Yeah, that's beautiful shooting from Apex.
Really good move, really good job moving around the map
as well.
Faze coming back up that ramp.
They wanted the fight.
They wanted to exploit that extra rotation
sliding over from underneath Heaven
and did off a little bit more than they can shoot.
So it started some good trades back and forth.
They expected just Apex.
Maybe you can go one for one.
Didn't expect Flamesey to step into the fight either.
And it sounds like with some noise queues of the messages in the game
that we're going to get a little bit of a reset here in round two.
Yeah, no harm, no foul.
Yeah, well done.
We got it.
We caught it.
Yeah, quick thumbs up.
Count back down and get ready into the game again today.
I mean, FACE have had a real mission in front of them, which
is get as many VRS ones as they can, right?
And the fact that they were able to perform well in Fort Worth
Now I've got a win here as well. I think it's good enough, right? They got themselves into the top 22.
The 22nd place in the VRS ranking, I mean, it's better than being an absolute freefall.
A win here, massive male likely, we would bring them up to 19th place and break into the top 20.
But it has been a conversation around FaZe Clan, just making sure that, okay, we aren't expecting to win
any of these events that were out in America, but we have to at least get some wins.
wins. Yeah, Frozen caught a little bit of flak. I think he had a quote saying something like that,
like, even more so than the trophies I care about the VRS points. So, I mean, you can,
you can see how much missing the Major and Cologne means to them and how painful that is,
knowing they have to sit that tournament out, especially for guys who have competed and gone
deep. They played in the Grand Final of the last Major as well. These two teams have rematch of
those Grand Finals. Obviously, very different lineup for the phase side of things. So, I mean,
yeah, that kind of inability to make it to the World Championship to the biggest competition
really, really hurts. That's the goal of phase is to get back to that. And to that,
you need VRS points. So Apex stepping in, we're live into this round, had a couple of resets.
Maybe one more, I'm just gonna, I'm gonna wait patiently. This feels like it could be...
They're all, they're all fine. Yeah, yeah, yeah, we're good. We're searching for some headshots,
always towards the back of credit. But at this point, phase in, no rush to go and die.
It's going to be the result all the same in the next few seconds here. Apex with the rifle out.
I think everyone kind of struggled yesterday. I think everyone may be caught off guard by
how hard that boom was shooting and the fact that it never let up. That boom played a great
series against Vitality. Fantastic work from them. Well earned play on spot. Spank him
and threw flames. Gonna take a little bit of damage to the walls. This is a patience
game right now. Vitality making sure that eventually when FaZe came in towards their crosshairs
they're ready to not concede any members, no shadow.
What the? What is this? What is that? That's the one way to approach it, isn't it?
It's all good. It's all good. It all ends fine.
Have you ever seen anything like it? Two to nothing for Vitality and the AK47s come out
phase. I really looking for that hair clip sponsor. What's he doing? Oh, plays like that.
I guess I'm attention. That is okay. Let's watch that again. Seize the shadow. I mean,
I thought it was even a little bit crazy if he swung with the rifle to go for the kill considering
how explosive you are, but the nades right up in the air is hilarious. Well, providing some
entertainment in an otherwise dull round. So let's get into it. 2-0. Finally a bike coming out
out here for FaZe Clan, we're gonna get into things in round three.
Well that smoke gonna go down towards the single door, and the outside smoke's deployed
from FaZe.
I hope the need for Apex is gonna land right on top of three players.
That shocks them down, crossing gonna be difficult.
Twist brokey Jacob, Nature frozen, all of them coming outside right now, they've relinquished
every presence over in Lobby, nothing towards Rampus, we'll have to kill for Twist.
Took a while the Apex didn't have his gun out, so it twists.
Gonna pick up the opening frag here.
Things will slow down right now in FaZe Clan's favor as they send multiple players to re-infact down secret bomb that is among them.
Flames, gonna try and kill them with a flashbang now.
Might as well.
I like it.
Alright, gets to the spot, falls back safely into the bomb site.
No shift yet from the defense I will and rocks both over and ramp so there's actually going to be really really fast support coming
Down to this is a bit of an X factor and as the I gel you could see with this positioning with his position to make a play to
Wrap into the bombsite. He's calling everyone back over towards mini so they pressure down lower
They make it feel like they're going to creep into that B bombsite going to come right back up
So Mezzi has a huge task
You could see him clearing out lobby to find a little bit of safety at the moment
Yeah, well flames faking out that door push back into the site has kept the information flowing in favor of vitality
So they know that phase aren't exactly setting up for that B split, but it doesn't matter because they've lost the upper sight
The kills will come in here for face enough 3d5 to try and recover this for vitality if they want to go for it
You just save with the positions you have two players in the lower bombs
They when that bomb gets planted
So I think you could just kind of keep these m4s in your hand
Robs can have the MP9 in the next round and you just save the economy
Maybe grabs and go for some exits Robs
Especially can be aggressive with the SMG if you want to try and grab an AK at the end
But yeah, this is just phase-out work and good job from twist out calling the rotations of vitality in this round
And no action at the end of the date so round three goes to phase they get their first round on the board
There's Robs his final move once that kill on twist and he's got it little bit of extra bonus money
Once he survived a bomb blast and he will not taken down at the end
If I keep my money, it grows the smoke and light.
Pretty quick here from Frozen to get in position, but I guess call up in a flash and then Flambs is confident to stay fighting towards the door.
So the opening frag falls if they're for a vitality. Flambs just going to climb up on top of Hutt, lock out the screechy door with the smoke grenade.
Ooh, and Frozen's going to step in front of it, good flash from Flambs, and now look at the aggression! What a play!
Catches Frozen, trying to be a little bit sneakier. Now upgrades to the AK-47.
Well, I talk about guys who had a rough game yesterday.
Imagine Apex, Flames as well. Very, very tough game.
He seemed to be just getting caught off guard, caught in awkward situations.
Sometimes not even his fault, just...
A lot of things weren't right for Beth.
Yeah, he was just ineffective. Flames yesterday, it happens.
But today, obviously, changing that a little bit with the initiative over towards Squeak Door.
Double kill out of 5 on 3.
Here are the steps tracking in the Apex.
Comes outside of the smoke.
Brokey gets the trade.
He gets some payback on Twizz as well.
His turn to cross the smoke and Twizz not being prepared for it.
Taken down.
Rops.
Sees hit that smoke as well once nothing to mess with it.
Two on four.
All down to timing and Brokey.
Right around that corner perhaps is his death unless you hard clear this.
There's the peek out from Robs, that's the bomb going down and Jacob also toppling off
the top of Heaven.
So if I tell him he'd lose one round, immediately bounce back.
Yeah, you can see I think Twist was trying to, I think he likes that, that win they had
previously with that kind of extended round, right?
He gets the opening kill, the round plays out, they work the map, they pressure lower,
go move back up to the upper bomb site.
I think that's the kind of a style he sort of wants to play right now, but you know, when you have flames, he claims getting aggressive like that and dropping in, getting a double kill, putting you in a five on three, those like kind of mid rounds start to start to feel really uncomfortable for you, not a whole lot of good options.
So every move is a little bit desperate to find a way back in.
Nobody home for the triple nade up on top of silo. Apex still being a nuisance outside, deep Molotov.
Brokey, Jacob and Twist to move outside towards Red Box. Support from Nature with utility.
They'll follow them up as well. It's Zaywu and Apex as always to figure this out and
put it together. Now they've used their nades on the triple nade for Silo so they have nothing
to break this smoke. Zaywu is still good at that five one. As Twist comes through, the
smoke just fades. Poor timing. And a five on four.
Now Flames all over the show at the moment back in this spot towards DeCon just gonna be jump spotting
I wasn't detected faking out the door in the previous attempts. We might try that again
And the problem right now is this is this is the exact danger that you don't want if your phase is just like losing that player without
Any ability to trade it without any ability to gain too much off that death
It happened the last run you just get whittled down and then you don't have enough actual resources and players to do anything
going to be hard breaking into this bomb site frozen will lurk over towards
ramp maybe they want him to take attention away that fight that 1v1
against robs would be important
well robs is one that one view one fight against frozen now flames wedding
boosted up inside of the side looking for a shower the double-cord players it
goes back to the angle he still gets that kill robs helps them out so a strong
hold of that lower bomb site and vitality feel like they're in full control
Yeah, you see how much they, I mean, it's really hard when you lose that player and things slow down so much and the map is so quiet, Vitality is going to start piecing that together, right?
I mean, look at what happens when you eventually get to that lower bombsite, because you get the one kill on the cross, because the smokes fade and you have the information if they come back.
Three players downstairs when you try and break in.
Smoke just fades at the worst timing for Twists, but you're just never going to break this kind of a crossfire.
Robson's I will basically a vertical stack with dark spot flanks inside the bomb site itself
I tell him complete control and back to pistols for phase
Just spotting towards solo is apex
Chance is he sends the grenade up towards twist instead of it's a beat you want
mentality maintaining their distance the advances is with the better weapons
they've taken this round very very slow for the peak they're gonna get it just
accompanied by a flashbang so nice and easy for apex to get a little bit of
information so much of this app has been played outside it feels the moment
he's really wanting to establish some success out in the yard before they go
elsewhere. Maybe this is around they can do it. Good shot from Twist to take down Apex.
Five on four, but you still just have the weaker weapons and no utility.
There he goes, Denade to the side of Red. As they try and cross over, it's going to be
Flames, Sairu taking multiple kills between them. And they've got Flames stepping out
and Sairu getting their final frag. So, yeah, I mean this is exactly what we expected.
To be honest, Vitality coming out from a slow day yesterday, getting a loss under the belt
and having to come out and fight for survival
and being on the top of the phase right now.
That's what I mean.
I mean, if we've been listening to Apex
over the past year and a half of this vitality dominance,
like just not a guy who's gonna let them come in
and have the flat, emotionless, quiet,
and you know, no energy day twice in a row.
Especially when you look at it, you know,
Trey's kind of phrased the question of,
you know, this is a new position for vitality to be
and where you're in a game where you're playing
and you potentially have to, you know,
do the quarter-finals and the semifinals in the playoffs,
which usually you get to skip straight to the semifinals.
The other one is not too often in a position
where they're looking to get eliminated
in the group stage either, you know, already kind of facing that prospect.
So that I think is the big factor that Apex probably hit today of not wanting to
have just a completely flat and early exit of a tournament right before the
major begins. This is, yeah, been a stretch where they get to relax and focus on
other things and focus on resetting themselves for the grind of the major.
But you obviously don't want to go through that and just have that depressing
collapse in any kind of event through that stretch.
Flames a 9 and 2 start. He got Zyle with 6 and 1. Ropes 5 and 2. Apex also.
Fun impact. 6 and 3 here. He's pushed up to the outside smoke again.
They're going to be disruptive to face.
But he knows they've just got their buy back again, so if you're right in the face and you start ruining their initial plans,
I'll do their recover. How do they find a way? And there's a miss shot from Brokey.
Oh, that may have been a clean up show.
Brokey does get away, but low on HP.
Man, this is very, very suffocating for Vitality.
Not allowing face, any space outside, bringing the AWPer low.
You've got Robs here at Secret Stairs as well.
It's gonna be tough to get even into a good position
to begin this round for face.
Look how active Vitality is outside too.
Look at how harassed the phase is, just to take the first set.
They haven't even crossed the first boxes.
They've lost one player, Brokey's taken 93 damage.
I think now on some level, you're not even really motivated for this.
You've used tons of utility just for the safety of it.
And you've got nothing for all the resources out here a brutal start to the round for phase vitality. Just laying it on thick and making nothing easy
Let's twist outside tapping away on apex so at least one kill brought back here for phase numbers are even
This twist slipping towards main. We've now got Zaiwu waiting in the ramp. I'm gonna hear
those snaps coming in. Twist activates. Out of main! Brilliant round out of twist and frozen
hunts down Zaiwu. A big turnaround here from FaZe. I don't know how they thought of themselves
in this kind of position, but it's Twist who's applied to alleviate all that pressure.
I mean, that's, I guess that's vitality. Maybe some miscommunication. Maybe the players
didn't have the timing and when that smoke would fade, but the new twist was outside.
gets the kill on Apex. Maybe an idea they thought someone else was going to be covering
it maybe robs from secret but man that's, Twist just wins that round. Straight up.
I mean Twist is going to be comfortable playing towards main and making these kind of plays
but this is the first fight, just a strong reaction. Apex just dry swings into the open.
That one's fine but look at these kills here. Like no one's aware, it comes a little bit
late, maybe Flames is trying to make his move to get some safety in towards door but it
does twist, twist gets those kills in the upper bomb site, Zaewoo makes his play probably
before he really wanted to and he gets taken down over towards Remprompt, shows some exit
kills for Rops perhaps on the cards, twists, bomb goes off, goes for the swing, Rops wins
that as well, keeps the AK in his hand, it's a speed bump, a hiccup for Vitality, they've
got plenty of cash to buy back in and I guess your reward for winning the round like that
is that Zaewoo gets to buy the AWP moving forward.
So that task of taking outside that's been so difficult, you still haven't established
any success with, now encounters the Zaibu AWP.
Well, phased over recent weeks, I've lost Karagin to Falcons,
and now we're facing elimination at the hand of Robs.
That's kind of a...
There's a lot of the X's, really causing problems right now.
Yes, they really are.
Well, Brokey takes some fire damage backs off.
Zaibu's AWP outside in big garage.
This time a little bit less focus for FaZe towards the yard, only two defenders here, so Meze gets aggressive but caught.
Awkward timing as he tries to shift back in towards hot, a 5 on 4 for FaZe.
They have a slow approach from FaZe in these rounds. Good opening, allows them to be pretty comfortable.
I think the logic is someone's going to have to shift away from outside, so it should be easier for them to actually exploit yard now that they have it open and kill.
It's a minute five. It's a lot of time and Faze hold Nade. It's ready to send the
outside wall but Twizz crossing past the scope as I with a shot does not ring
out from the French all group. Apex has a Nade for the smoke. They're gonna break it.
No one crossing from Faze. That second smoke hasn't even come in yet. Now they
disrupted again. No one from Faze is crossing behind the smokes because
actually playing in front of the smokes. Twizz trying to get towards main again.
Trying to activate a play out of this area was so successful in it last round and he's undetected again
Look how much space Twists has got. He's waiting for Apex just to come over the top of heaven. Oh, yeah
This is actually sick from Twists one kill would be great. Apex is ready for it. Good find
Yeah, Twists doing work again now flames under a water pressure at the back of the site can't do much about it
Either can Xayu and now that's the site that's the round and face up to three on the T side really fighting on getting themselves into the game
Okay, now we're starting to see the game plan come to fruition nice pick on the messy with his aggression good final kill from Jacob as well
Robs can't save the AK 47. That's a huge dent into the economy of vitality
They'll have to buy up and I imagine we see a timeout so they get to discuss things
But yeah, they starting this half just getting shut down outside time and time again. It started to look a little bit silly
I was starting to think like it's time to switch things up
But that's wiss rounds picking off apex wrapping in towards mini now once again you pick off messy
You know he's an upper bombsite anchor the most experienced guy the guy they're gonna leave there till last most often
And you exploit that as well wrap in towards mini. That's an opening you found a couple of times now
So vitality got to be having a conversation during this time out about how they want to manage that situation when someone goes down
Many must be watched at all times because Twizz is exploiting it twice in a row now
It's a great effect and if it happens once more
Vitality's money is broken and phases T side really starts cooking them
This game felt so comfortable for the first few rounds, that's a team vitality though.
Faces stayed in it.
Well they found ways like the kind of head to head outside hasn't worked out whatsoever
but obviously when you can pick off Apex and find that open, when you can pick off a player
finding some success elsewhere and then kind of executing your game plan a little bit late
with that outside control, that's starting to look effective.
And those flames walking into the lobby, so frozen, gonna be caught by an aggressive
play from Vitality.
Now Zywoo holding the locker room's cross, Twist walks right into the arm, Zywoo doesn't
get away, shot back through the smoke, it's J-Kip with both kills outside, and now Messi
steps up to take a next engagement, and FaZe, despite losing the opening kill, have fought
their way back into a position where they have the advantage and they're ready for
every move that Vitality are throwing their way.
Yeah, damn, they were so prepared. Zawoo with a little jump, wanted some intel, Jacob that's a nice kill, the spin towards Mini, he cracks it open, now Rops still has a chance in this round, two players trapped inside Big Garage and he knows it.
The X factor is the knowledge of where Broke is on the map.
But Rops is going to have to take the risk and say my best chance is to make sure I always have the information of these guys inside Big Garage and keep them trapped there.
Well that smoke is going to allow rops to actually move out behind it.
He realizes in a clutch like this you have to take a risk and that's the bomb.
That's gonna slow things down here for face 25 seconds.
Rops doesn't have the information in the second play but he jumps up and finds it
and now he knows exactly where Prokey is.
Rops up against his former teammates.
Look at him win a bit clutch here in the first half.
He's gonna know Prokey's dropped down, lower it.
Prokey against rops.
Plant is through.
Rope runs him down, and old Brokey gets that door close just in time.
And Rope stacks back, goes for the reload.
Brokey runs away to the double doors.
All right, all right, but Rope's just hunted him down.
And for years they used to clutch together,
but Rope's on his own, pulls it off.
I'll tell you what, Brokey's going to be really frustrated with himself.
That's a clutch you kind of played where it looks like he had no confidence.
He wanted nothing to do with any of those fights at any point.
Thought he had the opportunity to escape.
That's a crazy clutch.
That's a lovely clutch over the top of the smoke when he sees it doesn't panic finds the low HP nature
But this one quick shot just as broke. He's about to close the door can't get it done
That is Nassi Rops just hitting his former team with a dagger
I was going to take this thing out of the attack and face her, did so well in that round to
pull it back.
That started with a Flames advantage.
Jake, you put it to get three kills in the mid-round.
It's going to be so deflating considering how that T-side was starting to warm up.
Well, trying to get back into things with an immediate hit towards this A site.
You've got Twist waiting at high steps out of the open.
Messi's detected it.
Trying to step them off.
He gets the trade from death.
Now flames stuck inside a man count too much about it in a simple attack towards the A side has paid off here for face
Yeah, it feels like there's still an element of vitality snoozing not as reactive not as predictive as we normally see them a little bit
Discombobulated maybe phase if not them off their game, but right back into it a change of pace
That's a change that vitality hadn't seen yet so much attention has been kind of slow grindy outside working utility working smoke walls
And now you hit him with an upper pop
And again, it's Twist. You've got to give him so much credit. The guy who's won the first two rounds at FaZe gets in this half, but this one here, dropping the Molotov, Mezi on top of the silo, and Twist knows that's the one kill. It's the only kill he needs to get.
It's the kill that opens up the floodgates for the rest of his team. Spends his life to grab it, and then it's an easy win as Vytaera's FaZe swing out behind him.
Absolutely awesome performance from the FaZe captain. Keeping them in this game and still
the money issues for Vitality are still there. Not able to string rounds together.
Three of the last four going the way of FaZe and Vitality have a decision to make. AWP
but ak-47 brought in on zaiwu and ropz and they're gonna buy up around it
all right holding it in
doing his best
for now
yep keep it in
really struggling
struggling about staying in there
alright boost up in service around for ropz gonna go up on top of the boxes
Again with a weaker gun.
Great work from FaZe, they were able to bounce back after a Rob's clutch like that against them.
They're gonna have to come and challenge him at the start of the round.
Now, Rob's really shouldn't be able to get too much done here.
Maybe one.
Well, let's see, did he exceed that?
Nope, he will get close to it, but not able to take the second kill.
Frozen's certain it will take his second kill, though. Flames rotated as fast as he could to try and catch them off guard,
but Frozen was so quick to react to that,
and all of a sudden, Phase are in a better spot.
They've got a 4v3.
Phase is so prepared for all the follow-up flights
that Vitality are swinging into,
even when they kind of have a read and a jump
on a quick rotation.
Phase is just ready for that next guy
coming around the corner.
It's really great to see,
very focused, locked in these Phase players.
Defense is centralized now,
because they've just been surrounded.
Ramps been taken away from them, no presence outside.
So stuck all three in the upper bomb sites.
Iwu's AWP apex up in heaven with the AK-47, Mezi with his MP9 inside the bomb set as well.
And Twist just being the guy finding information.
Just piecing it all together so we can call his team, tell him exactly where to go, seize
the player up in heaven, calls him downstairs, and he can even be a nuisance towards Vence
if anyone tries to rotate from vitality.
Twist's getting spotted now, but he's just always winning these fights for me.
No one's able to challenge him apparently.
Cywoo finally getting rid of him on the trade, but a 3v2 bomb is planted and Faze going for 5T rounds on new.
Apex has found the kill on Netshu. Cywoo's still a long way off.
Yeah, they don't have a kit. I think he doesn't want to call him back in. Also, the footsteps indicate they're coming.
There's really no chance for any kind of secrecy, any kind of edge in this retake.
Five rounds. T side from Faze.
Yeah, it's actually awesome to see, especially considering this started out 5-1.
They lost the pistol. Vitality's defense outside.
members of a lot of pushes a tax getting up in their face fighting up towards
silo picking them off really really early not letting them develop those
tactics out in the art
and faces from around about way to get that started with kills elsewhere with
twist having big performances a pick on towards the and towards the hot player
messy going down early
you find that weakness exploited and go back to outside and faces made it work
it got a sad has mainly been twists with the impact if it pays in this first
half
the mother kills he's got a mini is just mad yeah how was he getting away with
it so many times
Yeah, he's been excellent for FaZe. He's certainly been the gasoline to the engine to get them
started and keep them in this. And now, keep it very, very close. Looking to head into half-time
with a tie scoreline. Crazy to think about how things looked in the first six rounds,
but FaZe have shown up here on the opening map of Nuke. Round 12, Zywoo still got his
off. Rookie has one on the other side as well. Another opening for FaZe, less bodies outside.
It's quality not quantity, and Twizz is going to be that player.
Faking the outside wall, looking to hit towards upper.
Apex and Zairu's attention out in the yard for the moment while these smokes are up.
Now, Messi's had a very tough half of a counter strike here, a single kill when it comes from
Amolotov after he had already died, so really important role defending this A-site, has
a strong piece to this at all.
Let's see if he can change that, coming into the last round of the half.
Unreminent left, and he's glad just sitting outside of the A-site, getting ready to go
in.
There's going to be Messi and Flames looking to combine with two for Mass.
We're just waiting for these smokes to fade. I think Twist may be panicking a little bit saying we don't have enough pressure being applied elsewhere
This is too readable. We need to throw a little bit of a fake elsewhere
All talk towards CT vent just to limit that position here comes the rest the utility flashes going through
And now they come charging into us play and spread shot from frozen messy finally getting to that
Is it going to be enough a 3v3 with just over 20 seconds as that bomb is about to get planted
Twist putting it down and vitality have to go for the retake here. Yeah, there's no kids either
This raps flank is massive as you've able to pick anything off
But phase have actually vacated the sweet door area
So he's gonna be happy about that gives I woo some freedom
But now hut is the point that he's looking at
Just taking first damage side we're taking the kill broke he gets one
There's raps unleashing so it comes in to clean up and it will be vitality with the lead
Good comeback from face client to stay competitive on this first map though a
A 7-5 scoreline it reads.
Well, thanks for watching.
Well, Faze surprising everyone and not only sticking in this, but actually looking pretty damn solid in that opening half, five to seven, running four of five to put a stamp on that T side.
Twist found a way to get it heated up. That offense started cranking. Now we switch sides. It's Faze who's going to defend here on Nuke, up against Vitality as we step into this second half.
And we'll see if it upset us on the cards here in the opening map of this series. Elimination on the lines for these two huge Titan organizations and Counter-Strike.
Gonna be sad saying, but either one of them really.
Yeah, really well, especially coming into this event.
Vitality heavy favors, but for Faze Clan,
they've got twists on the roster.
It'll be great to see him play.
In the playoffs, we know the North American fans
really love the Faze Clan organ.
We've got Flames swinging out with Baroque trading.
Yeah, a quick start to this pistol,
but it's all slowed down now.
Frozen holding the ramp.
That's the ball.
Maypex is getting flint too.
It's all gonna come crashing down here for Vitality
in the pistol round on Les Mezzi.
And Zahu can do something unthinkable and well, good damage on a Jacob, couldn't take him away,
but it's the problem of the bomb, right? It's so far away.
Yeah, I'm actually surprised that it felt like Faze actually kind of shifted away.
Frozen in nature, just playing far, far back over in Ramp Room.
If Mezey can find Jacob on the other side of the smoke.
And he will. Two on two.
Zahu's gonna wait patiently to join up with Mezey, watching both sides of Ramp Room,
eyes on the bomb as well.
No utility for Vitality to use to try and recover this and dip away,
So they're gonna have to fight for it
And the bomb just waits right there on the floor frozen eyes on it range with dual barrettas
Let's see how accurate you can be at long range and eventually
Taking Zywoo away. You can mess you in a clutch and frozen. Yeah, no problem if that can arrange with the jewelies
That's gonna be a 4k
And look at the energy AKJs bringing to the team as well firing phase up
They've won the pistol round, and they've got a chance to go on a run here on the CT side.
Yeah, it's the nature of this game is changing now.
All of a sudden, Faze seem to just be able to kind of grab rounds at will.
Fizality, it's been quite some time since they've been able to string two together.
And the pistol round has been a benefit for Faze they've been able to rely on throughout IEM Atlanta so far.
They've been so solid in pistols, getting the second one here on Nuke,
and getting to start their CT side campaign with economic advantage.
Everyone getting pumped over there on the phase side of things unarmored pistols for vitality upgraded into a Digo for mezi
Okay
We got there's a player right there that you turn it around it very luckily it was just a clock
For apex he found a little bit of a gap there, but a tight game seven to seven
Yeah, getting interesting isn't it?
All right, so twist is talking about
Some fakes that I want to throw in and it comes back to what we talked about with phase yesterday, right?
What we've seen of the last few weeks from them. Why is he mad about that one?
I mean he's he's as always
ready to go so every it feels every emotion so intensely, but I
Think what we've talked about over the last few weeks for phases the fact that they have had a number of very slow starts on mouse
But there just seems to be this ability to switch it on right and get back into it
Yeah, you don't expect necessarily to be able to flip that switch against the best team in the world, do you?
Right. So, it's crazy to see it. It's just a question of, is it going to be the same story that we talked about with that billionaires today?
Okay, if you've got that momentum, you can't let up, right? You just got to run it to the finish line.
If you even hand back the total to Vitality for just a second, it might just be your end.
That's the other side of the coin, too, is another conversation of where's Vitality.
Let's see if Apex can get these guys, you know, waking up on this T side.
Four players in Lobby, Apex outside with the smoke wall up.
As those smokes fade, Apex just gonna play Redbox, Brokey's playing Lockers.
Door smoked off again, that's holding Vitality back.
Nathieu and Jacob both downstairs in secret.
No one's actually in the upper bombsite at the moment.
Faze kinda just playing retake, playing it very passively, willing to give it up.
considering stepping back in, but they've heard nothing on the map.
And two players downstairs makes me feel like they think the team's crossed behind the smoke wall, but they're wrong on that.
Under 30 on the clock, flames running over the back of the site here.
Now, plant is going to come through for Mezzi, front of the bomb site, 5v5 post plant.
There's one kit, there's no smokes, there's two flashes. I can't imagine you're going for this in any way.
setting up to take these guns out of their hands at the end of the day you're
saying you can have this round victory we just want to make it so painful we
want to make you lose as much as possible in the process because we know
your economy is still not there. Apex just backing away his two-phase client
players make their way up the secret stairs and now cross behind red but
they might just spot enough of Apex but the timing couldn't be better until now
he is spotted he's around the corner safely for now he goes into the peak
Nature got both now twist
But they run back and so this will be caught the bomb will be going off
And I think they might have been close on time even with that diffusor
But I like the attempt that from the twist try to be real sneaky with it
Yeah, as the exit kills are going out so you can see like vitality's brain is thinking
We're gonna have to fight to exit away from this bomb twist pulls them even back closer with that late ninja attempt
And that's taken a ton away from vitality. That's the exact goal that phase had
So well done at least in that regard. Yeah, you've given over a free round not really contesting and fighting to maintain the bomb site
But you're by so much better in this round than what vitality have four galils brought in out of a victory
No money built up for vitality whatsoever
things that's going off for brokey and they've got everybody on a rightful including an AK-47 from nature would be carried over from the last round
This is a great opportunity for face to bring the hurt to the economy of vitality the beginning of the second half
Yeah, kind of a cool weakness to attack, isn't it, with that kind of a game-flam.
Molotov in towards secret. Utility, resources, nades are gonna be really, really sparse for vitality,
so all of them have got to be efficient, and they've got to use these smokes that are currently up to cross.
Frozen got a glimpse, a little bit of chip damage brought down mezzy, and Twists will drop down into secret.
Under one minute on the clock.
Twist just jump-spotting, seeing Flames opens the door.
No brookie waiting.
Patiently, it will be Flames walking down the stairway into the gaze of the AWP, but look
at this.
Twist makes the same play that Flames made in the last half where he fakes out the door
walk back into the side.
But he's gonna hear that ladder. He was gonna walk right by the vent but then Zyra makes noise
So Twist can start to think about flanking around a secret and try to come up through this area
But it might become a little bit too late because his teammates do nothing
Frozen Israel I boys got utility diving down into the site stops the plant on apex and is buying crucial seconds
For the rotation of twist and now arrived that he goes through the smoke
Twist gets the kill and it's all on apex down in the bomb site twists again with heavy impact here for face clan a
A 16-13 performance right now on Twist, and that's another round to throw on top.
This is a monster performance out of Twist. So much impact everywhere he's going.
Absolutely incredible performance. Frozen's right there with him. 13 kills.
Dude, if it isn't for Frozen, that round is done for FaZe, right?
There's no chance for Twist to activate this flank, but both the A-plies die instantly.
Frozen is the one that delays it long enough, with the first kill then the utility to prevent the plant of Apex
because he was low HP and then TORUS can come through and push that smoke and make the play he was setting up.
Yeah, this is actually perfect for FaZe. They got everything they wanted and now you get the reward of that setup in the previous round with that late ninja play.
Keep everyone from vitality close to the bomb explosion. Lose all their money even in a victory. Now you've got them broken early.
Just pistols upgraded. Barely even any armor. Only ROPS and Apex bring an armor into this fight.
Faze starting to get a really really strong grip on this opening map of the elimination
series.
Unfathomable to think that Vitality would even be in a position like this.
I'll make sure you're back in the site.
He's gonna be overwhelmed but he's got J.K.
But right there, right there with three kills and quick succession.
The Faze are locked in right now and a lead has been taken here on Nuke.
Vitality will get back to a buy, but it's not going to be one with an AWP
precedent that'll just about be AK-47s and the limited amount of utility.
That's, you know, they're a team that's not, you know, we know with Zywoo, he likes to use that
AK-47 plenty, especially on the T side. He's actually given it back so he can get some extra
utility, gone down to the Galil. Now yesterday against Bat Boom on this map, Vitality did
end up losing it, and some of the issues that they were having against Bat Boom on it
was the issues taking yard outside. Not typically a problem from FaZe,
But really really struggled to be effective in that part of the map
Only putting two t rounds against that boom on the board the pistol round of the final round of the half and
Once again this outside pressure making it a huge difficulty for vitality to find any success here
There's nature handling so I will
So crazy to see faces absolutely destroy vitality at the moment and vitality getting pulled into bad fights now
Vitality, desperately trying to find traits, trying to get something back.
And it's the exact fights FaZe are looking for.
This power-up happens so quick and FaZe have never slowed down again.
Broke is now gone, and it's only Mezzie remaining.
Broke is ready for him. This is the shot.
Sails on by and then throws it right there.
Fazeclad in full control,
rements him easily on their side.
And for Vitality, it's not like they have a good buy
to fall back on again here.
So, 11th to 8th, the most likely outcome
of the next two minutes here.
And really, really cool stuff.
Look at Nature now outside holding his ground,
finds Apex, sticks around for the fight,
even longer, handles the Zairu turn.
Teammates cover him as well.
Flames trying to pick him off on the retreat.
And Brokey's getting pumped up.
Round 19, and it's only pistols yet again for vitality.
Haven't seen that vitality round yet, right?
We talked about it throughout the event, throughout some of the slow starts, throughout some of
the rougher on the edges here in Atlanta, back at Fort Worth as well.
Haven't seen that moment yet.
Often the low biases when they can crack in for a win that changes the nature.
Big-time clutches, but you're getting that phase effect now,
where all those rounds are in the favor of the other team.
So vitality scrambling to get back into this game.
Flames held back.
Lovely shot from Zywoo.
This was...
Right by Zywoo with another one, and you were just mentioning,
Where is that Vitality round? Where is that low by win? Well, they do have a chance here in 3v3 and I was going to be p
Yeah, the Zayu up is the big one drops controlling the bomb as well coming into the lower bomb site
They've got eight packs over and vents only with the pistol
So not a whole lot of resistance, but at least information gathering and two players flanking through secret and that's gonna be up to Zayu
All right
Let's see if Zayu can make the big difference here all close to place right there misses the shot
Jacob over the top of him. Now let's say thanks out of the vent P250 car.
Nature considers that maneuver so it has to be rops and he can't do anything about it.
Nature looking sharp, FaZe Clan looking sharper and it's 11-8. They do not catch
the break vitality you're looking for and FaZe even closer now to rounding out Nuke.
Man this is Nature kids really trying to earn himself a spot in this team isn't he?
He's trying to carve himself and opening in this roster. Lovely performance and
Good shooting today. These are great shots from Zyberu, but it all goes to waste at the end.
Couldn't fight a good angle for the post-plant, even with the AWP. They did a little bit too close.
Apex never gathered that information, but the read for nature to say,
Frequently this is what people try to wrap around us. We've taken control side.
Let's just go check that flank real quick. Final two kills, secures round 11,
and Vitality running out of chances to stick around in nuke.
Newt. There's been over a year of top four finishes for team vitality. Last time they
finished outside the top four, January 2025 at the blast bounty spring. That was what
their first event, I think with Robson when he hopped in. Yeah, the first event was the
rough one and then it was off to the races. Crazy. They're facing this situation. And
for all the experience, you could say it's actually one of the few areas of the game
left where they don't have that much experience is actually feeling like you
are about to be eliminated. Vitality doesn't know very well what that's
like. Look at Naityu on top of T-Roof! He's just killed Saewoo! This is so nuts! So much
confidence! He is going to be pushed! Robs, he can't keep doing that! He says he's just
going to come up the roof and make sure that Naityu doesn't get away with
another one. I don't even care, that's so frustrating. When the players start
styling on you like that to open up rounds, when the gap is in
your offense like that, you're pissed. I mean you just mentioned the fact that
Vitality not used to thinking about elimination at this stage of the competition
Well, they're not used to that either right place is running at the tier roof on nuke trying to get in your face
3v3 thanks to flames at least keeping things even for the time being rock trying to slip out
There's a headshot on Jacob on a minute on the clock now 3v2 more of that more initiative being taken by Vitality players
That's what's gonna get it back into this bro. He misses the chance frozen slides in big kill for him
Mezzi in the site gets it done.
A very important kill and now he's got the safety of the bomb site.
They should know Brokey's position.
As Flames wraps around through Lobby to play a 2 on 1 and Brokey's got a decision.
12 HP as he wanted to attempt it.
Well he steps up towards Heaven.
It's almost impossible to think he gets this kill on Mezzi and he won't.
There's a little bit of relief for Vitality.
We'll do another round here.
and keeping phase off 12 so you can still fight for a victory in regulation.
Lovely move from Rops. Taking a big rest, taking a gamble. Here's that push from Natshu.
Sees everything clear and is like, yeah, why the hell not?
You're so confused if you're Simon.
You've just been pushed on the T roof, not ready for that kind of play at all.
Rops and Mezzi, you want to make sure the round goes in favour of Vitality still.
Brokey, stepping up into the hut.
Frozen might just be activated here by twists.
So, you tell it to prevent Robs from feeling super comfortable, it's going to funnel him
back into the AWP, but you can see Robs is very aware of the possibility.
We'll send some shots towards Brokey and scare him off.
Now Vitality starts to send a couple extra players outside, crossing behind Red.
Okay, well there's a break at the smoke. It doesn't go all the way through.
Tough to get vision on the other side. Jacob just some spam.
Twist and Broke, he rotated down towards secret.
We saw this a few rounds back.
They've really wanted to get a jump on this when that smoke wall comes up.
They don't want to deal with the pressure towards the lower bomb site.
So you've put a lot of extra resources there.
Vitality showing they want to take a ramp room and split to that lower bomb site.
But meanwhile, it looks like it's all a fake.
Going to turn the corner in towards Mini and they have an open avenue into the upper bomb site.
Vitality now starting to work the map on the T side.
Pex moving out of main as Jacob in. He stopped Apex.
Masi does get that headshot on the entry back of the site.
Twizz having an alleviate here again and it's Twizz once more, but Simon wins.
Doesn't bite, goes for the second. Slywoo's got both.
And so Frozen and Jacob now left 2v2.
Twizz has done enough to keep this competitive for FaZe and then Slywoo the same for Vitality.
But it's Frozen looking to make the difference out of height.
But the time slows and Masi considers.
It looks towards high, but no push coming forward now, frozen steps up, and Zywoo is the difference in this round.
They know where to go, but there's Masi's got the headshot, and when you need someone to deliver a round for you, it is Zywoo for Vitality.
Yeah, they needed that final boss. Here is that last push from Vitality back into the game, starting to heat up.
The great play from Rops previously, but now it's Zywoo saving you, and if he's going to show up in this kind of fashion to close the Vitality out,
is going to get so much more difficult.
Patiently waits, recognizes the situation,
and all the impactful kills down the stretch are Zai-Wu.
Time and time again, 11-10.
Money is gone for FaZe.
Outside of this buy, they're broken.
Huge swing round for Vitality.
The win here could just steal this map away from FaZe,
who have been fighting so hard for it.
In a way, when you look at the money,
Could be the last chance for Faze.
See if they're able to pull through here.
Get up to map point.
We got twoists.
Checking towards silo, no head being shown, no one from vitality.
Offering up a single chance.
Smoke's starting to fade though. There's the first one gone.
Apex takes a little bit of damage from the spam.
to us here's all this calling out it's just one
recognizes the flash as well smoke clears towards door a chance for brookie to
have impact early in the round
45 seconds left
no longer is it just one player towards secret flames will join up with apex
Rob smoked out steps into the open brookies patience catches Rob's hands busy
Throwing utility and this is going to funnel vitality to put two players towards ramp as they already have two down lower
Frozen will have to drop to address that issue set up with his teammate and that does free up some space here for vitality
It's just the time here 20 seconds on the clock is that decon door swings wide open
Vitality making a final push to try and tie things up again. It's Zyrul but can you do anything?
No, Flames finds him on the rifle with a quick flank that door shuts
but it's actually open, and so Twitch moves, and Flames turns, and Twitch will die.
Flames ready for the next, but you're still being pulled out, and Jacob trying to win this alone,
but he's burning in the fire, and Vitality just about get out of this one with a skin of their teeth.
It's going to be 11-11, a closely contested round, but FaZe have to fall away,
and their money is shattered at a crucial point on the map.
This time it's Flames. This time it's Flames with some impactful kills when it's needed the most.
Absolutely disgusting work. It looked like he wasn't comfortable and ready for any of those fights and still comes out on top
These last two rounds almost feel like vitality is playing phase counter strike and coming out on top
It's not pretty it doesn't look like everything's planned not everyone seems on the same page
But the individuals are providing the effort necessary and even at the end of the day
All the guns taken out of phases hands. That's a brutal reset of the economy right at 11-11
Okay, all it finished that final round
Now FaZe have run out of cash, half they run out of steam.
This one right here, Nathieu, as good as he's been, not able to find impact in a really, really strong position as they come out of Deacon.
As the pressure cranks up, it's Vitality taking the initiative and getting all the big moments.
So MKJ trying to get them geared up, it's going to be all 24 rounds here on Nuke.
on Nuke. Tied at 11 and a great opportunity for vitality to take the chance for one round
to win the map. And escape from this nightmare that FaZe has brought into Nuke.
MP9 on Frozen. Deagle on Twists. 5-7s and P250s picked up.
They need a special round.
Toys has been so good on this first map, so reliable for giving face chances.
He tries to challenge Si Wu, and the straw will whiz past.
Now Vitality, you gotta have the goal.
Obviously, you wanna be able to have some information, figure out what you're going
up against, what the buy is looking like, where people are playing.
But equally, you don't just want to give up cheap kills, you don't want to give up one kill on the other side of the map that can't be traded, so Apex taking all the risks.
Twisted across the smoke, goes down. Apex ready for that. Now to play it passive, see what the next reaction is going to be.
Four of his teammates moving towards Ramp Room into Brokey's position.
I mean, Brockey has a P2000, so...
The fact he's playing alone and with that little weapon, it'll be no challenge for the
mighty Vitality in a round like this.
Vitality is happy to take this so slow as well.
Don't make any mistakes.
You can see how they're just maintaining this group presence over towards Lobby as well,
letting Apex be the only one in any kind of danger.
Otherwise, they can recover any situation with the number of players they have here.
Good shot for Jacob, but he's got more.
He's a massive moment here. Jacob out of the 5-7, and he can only mount one kill.
Vitality put their resources towards the door and out towards the A side.
Apex on the lurk, and the lobbies come back in from outside, but he has missed the timing.
That's an AK now for Brokey.
Honestly, it might just be worth saving that at this point.
Yeah, he slips away.
Yeah, a little percentage retake that you're gonna have here against three Vitality members.
No kit, so yeah, the AK-47, pretty damn valuable considering the money.
Frozen is well good a position to try and find an exit kill up on top of the T roof.
We'll see where Vitality eventually exit off to, but this will be the twelfth round for Vitality, so they've got one chance.
One chance to seal this away in regulation.
Not always easy getting that twelfth, or that thirteenth round once you get to twelve.
We know Team Struggle with it, but Vitality after the slow start to this half,
Second half opened up a 6-1 run in the favor of FaZe.
But what an exclamation point. If you just rattle off that 13th right now by Tawed, it just says we gain control and run 5 straight with no problems.
And it was Zylew who was the turning point.
And imagine the effort of Twist that would go to waste on this map.
on this map. He was the producer, the engine, everything for FaZe in the first half on the
T side. Opening kills, impactful kills, calling great strategy, finding ways to make it work.
He's done good work on the CT side as well. All that gets forgotten about at Vitality
Steel this round right now.
So one last hurrah here for FaZe in regulation. Can they get this one into overtime? Xayu
breaks open the door and goes for the early peek. They need to be peeked towards main,
No one stepping in from Vitality. ZywOo taking Nades to the face down to 8 HP.
Really, really wanted that challenge. Look how fast this is.
Okay, caught.
Yeah, Twist ready. That's the kind of play Twist was making all half-long.
She was aware of the possibility. He stops Apex, Flames put to an end by Nadesho.
Rop sending shots back, frozen dead, damage done to two Vitality players.
Rop's 5 HP, ZywOo 8 HP. It's gotta be some impact from Mezzy.
Well, it's got to be slow this round down and get started getting players in new positions
See if you can catch someone off guard. Zairu's AWP has moved outside very quickly. This move from Nechu is huge
This is great. Look at the wrap around.
Rops never gonna expect that.
Oh, but he goes to the T roof instead.
Wait, this is actually perfect too. I think he's gonna catch Mezzi in Zairu. They're still waiting to cross.
It's gonna take a little bit of time. Leg shot. There goes Rops inside, but now you're up and now you can force OT.
That's a big step up from nature and around like that willing to make that play that aggressive wrap around the back
To a spotting apex just in time if apex gets into main there
It's gonna be a big problem right the fact that there's two players coming into main for that split ready for the a site
And as the change of pacing to it right that happens so fast
That's just like we're just gonna walk the whole way until we get into a fight
So really could grab on to apex otherwise. Yeah upper bomb site really gets weakened over time of course phase
Vitality! Vitality is so good in the overtime zone. This is another uphill battle for Faze.
Let's see if they can fight on. And Saewoo is going to get the opener next.
He tries to get aggressive up into his face, but Saewoo is ready for it.
Five on four. Apex going to cross quickly, not waiting around. Flames up on top of the roof.
So Vitality is starting to get a few pieces into place. Map control towards secret, tons of it,
because Apex isn't slowing. And now he just waits patiently, frozen. It might just walk
right into his death. Do you clear this hard corner? Oh, don't switch. Don't do that. He's got it.
And then he picks, extends the advantage here for vitality.
Oh ho ho ho ho!
Three because Broki's had taken off as well.
Under a minute on the clock, a 5v2 for team vitality.
The bomb is on the back of Mezzi, which still needs to get to the site.
It might just win in elimination at this point.
Sorry, I'm missing a couple of chances outside, but Flames won't take long to kill twists.
Now take your place towards main so 30 seconds you can now bring that bomb down to the site safely apex just plays gladiator this rounds
He's like just let me let me do everything first
Let's see how many kills I get and then you guys can start playing the game after the facts
So many just just
Educated risk-taking base off a kill moving forward taking so much space so quickly so quietly
The knowledge that you know frozen especially because that smoke wall especially because you have a kill already and play on nature
Frozen's going to have to ship down to secret and Apex just sits there and waits for his timing.
Both IGLs have a big impact for their teams in this game.
Tell you what, that gun switch, that quick switch, though, almost gave me a heart attack for Apex.
Yep, they're timing on it. And he gets it all in just in time.
That's a beautiful shot on Brokey as well. It just crosses the vision.
vision from there it's an easy mop up for vitality just waiting for the next
phase steps 13 to 12 double up now switched into broke he has one outside
frozen's gonna have one over towards wrap room as well
Apex about to be unleashed through the smokes again
Just trying to make a B of the playmaker a lot of freedom outside rops
Stopping Jacob just had a peek towards the back of the site twist wins the fight against Apex
Important that he keeps numbers even here
Vitality don't have a player nearby to even attempt the trade at least you've got the information as to what twist is playing
So he's kind of locked in there for the time being. Oh, yeah
He's going to have a tough time getting out for the moment, so just staying safe, making sure Mini is spotted.
Nothing really vitality can do to flush him out into the open.
Zairu just going to hold the angle in case he tries to get a little bit cheeky, make a run for it.
Otherwise, vitality is going to spend this time readjusting back towards Lobby.
So Zairu outside for the moment as the solo player.
Rops, Flames, and Mezzi together, and Lobby as Apex watches on.
And they still haven't encountered the second off. They still don't know that Frozen's got an AWP in Ramp Room.
We're going to be so difficult to win it from here.
A 1v4 clutch for Robs.
They're slashing through the smoke, but Robs is gone, but he can't have gone far.
And that has to be the compensation for Faze.
He wins this, man.
No, he can't. Truly he can't.
There's only so far he could have gone. Only so many places he could be.
They're going to break open the smoke, and that's going to be enough to grenade to catch him.
And finally, getting Robs.
Yeah, he just had no options.
All right, Twist, there's a big win for you.
Nice round from FaZe as they stand strong.
Four players surviving, shutting down everything from Vitality.
No access.
The double-up works perfectly.
Brokey, the up inside the upper bomb site, scares them away,
forces them to rotate back, and that's where you discover a second up is there.
Frozen gets an easy pick, and with time running down, no options for Vitality.
Faze is doing a really, really good job facing off against the best team in the world in these long extended late round plays as well, not losing their nervous time goes on.
Final round before we switch sides in OT and it's going to be an upper rush, it's going to be a change of pace, flames coming out inside the smoke, blinded with nature, kills going the way of Vitality, and Twices once again going to do everything he can.
He can just frozen 1v2 with a2vp and it's just a shrub roll and towards the site
Vitality on top of it right now, but can frozen pull this off. He switches out to the rifle for it flames will fade towards heaven
I always met a noise a thanks buddy frozen knows he has to go in and he knows exactly what the last player is
But I was caught frozen and it won't be vitality with a slight edge a 14 to 13 lead
team vitality when they get into overtime it can be so difficult to put
them away. They've only lost one time in OT and it is the Falcons this year. A
single time in overtime. Players have done a good job of hanging in but these
are the kind of brawly rounds that vitality just about edge through.
Well a member as well they won four of the last five in regulation now they
win two of three here so six is seven a little bit of a streak here for
vitality extending back outside of the overtime. So really they've got onto this
game and got comfortable while FaZe was beating them up early on in that second half. Vitality's
figured it out. Timeout as they switch sides, a chance for FaZe burning their single overtime
timeout to talk things over. Can it be interesting to see what they come up with? Back in the
first half of Nuke, we saw them attempting to play outside, attempting to take yard control
when they attacked it head-on. They got beat up and battered by Vitality, but when they
They were able to find an opening pick elsewhere towards Hutts.
They were able to open up some avenues outside and actually exploit many a number of times
so we'll see if FaZe continue with that or if they want to go to something different
here to surprise Vitality.
Outside smoke's constructed.
Side whoop.
I'm not spawning anybody.
That's not a break, but now he will!
And he'll nail his chance, not too far off the second, but twist again,
doing a great job at continuing this fight for phase.
That's his 30th kill on the map.
That's a big one too, but apex is stepped up into the garage flashes come through it's where it's trying to fight out towards flames
Apex was also there so there was no way twist was getting out of that one alive
That's actually a huge fight for flames just because apex was completely blind if twist attention wasn't taken away
He'd be looking at his 31st kill on the apex now for the three vitality with a small lead in the player department now
But a minute left on the clock if your vitality though, this is where your kind of alarm bells are saying this is where we feel
Those attacks coming in for us towards mini that's where twist was able to punish us in regulation apex sliding downstairs as well though
Just to cover their bases, and that's a good thing because Jacob and Nature are here with the bomb as well, frozen in a lurk position outside.
40 seconds for FaZe to piece together this 3 vs 4.
They have to be going back up the fence.
Door's open.
Headpacks doesn't peek yet.
He's getting ready for that fight though, throws back into his steps into the open, and Froze has got to kill on Flames as well.
as well. Now Frozen is searching for his further drive.
Messi jumps spotting at the back of the side,
nature trying to close the space,
trying to run him down with some help,
and it's Robb to the relief,
helping out Messi who will not give up his life for free.
He stands, and he's in cover,
but Frozen eventually hunting him down.
Oh, Robb's that is ridiculous!
Getting away with one again on Frozen,
and Robb's BS is pushed vitality up to map point.
Yeah, here's he come from.
He's really gotten loud inside the server,
He had the 1v3 earlier, now he's got 26 kills inside the server and he provides the second prong to this crossfire that wins the round
with help from Mezi inside the bomb site, not over peaking, maintaining position, but what a play!
What a double kill at the end and Vitality, two more chances to close out the map.
What Jacob a great strong opener at taking Zybu down without a casualty at all here on
phase.
Looking to increase the pace of this, it's Twist moving through the smoke, Apex is right
beside him.
Twist has slipped in towards main, it's a special move he loves to make this play and
there's flames that gets caught this time, Messi on rafters, spotting the feet, getting
rid of Twist, another one from Messi, all map long but showing up in the final round
on what they hope will be, but Robs has to clutch it if that is going to be reality because
Brokey gets the kill, but Robs to take Brokey down.
For so long it was Robs that meant success for FaZe, but now we're about to be the reckoning
Nurend on Nuke if he can win it against Jacob, who's in the open and Robs denied, Vitality
denied, and Jacob will keep FaZe in the fight.
Damn, tough clutch for the young kid to win. Stands tall up against Robs, taking his time, had him out in the open.
And after such a parolie round, Brokey goes down, Jacob's far away, that can be nerve-wracking, but he stands tall.
This is disgusting for Mezzi. Should never be getting away with three kills in this position.
Knew where he was the whole time, but all those quiet players we talked about in the first half of Vitale, and these last 10 rounds have shown up.
Jacob winning the clutch, gives FaZe an extra lifeline.
One more round to try and force double OT.
31 kills on Twizz, leading the way.
Captain from the front, 21 on Frozen as his right hand man, Robson Zywoo leading for vitality,
27 and 22 respectively, round 30.
It's available for Apex to disrupt the outside smokes.
FaZe have their forces gathered outside of the A site. The only player with presence outside is Toist.
This feels like an upper hit this whole way. Jacob frozen Brokey. Their attention has been on hot this whole time, but Toist is going to be the really strong position wrapping in.
Well they're already through.
throws and look at this timing he's already out on the side but Flemish has recovered it for
Vitality! Oh! Flame on! He's got himself four inside of his sight and it might just be the bitter
amphora phase they were so competitive but as Flemish igniting with the ace and a 16-14 Vitality
will not be defeated in overtime so hard to put away and that is why they are the best.
Absolute champion some of that quality coming in all that talk of vacation they overcame
a little bit of a slow start yet again, but Vitality figured it out, FaZe really challenged them, really tested them, and put that experience of having this elimination game facing them, that one loss by telling not too often in that scenario, but they nail it.
They absolutely do. The only team able to defeat Vitality in overtime this year is one single time from Falkins in Rio.
This team, even when they're being pushed to the brink overtime, is where they thrive. Vitality get it done.
And in the darkness it looked like it was going to be another overtime, but it was the Human George in flames who was able to step up with a superhero close to keep Vitality going and to close this one out.
It was entertaining to say the very least, closing it out as one thing that Vitality
did right there, but obviously with some of that phase BS in their own pockets.
Yeah, I mean, listen, the start of this game, it looked like things were going to go according
to plan for Vitality, some nice opening starts, great flash plays for Flames, and then it
all devolved into chaos.
We had outside control, we had twists popping off in so many moments, but there were just
consistent lethal weapons applied from phase throughout that entire T side half and even
when we'd gone to the overtime, so we got into the CT sides, twists and their ability
to sort of brawl outside on that phase con unit, it really felt cohesive and comprehensive
in a way that most teams wouldn't have expected a phase con to look like.
Especially for a vitality, the battle back that got into 11-11, they broke phases money
at that point. And then once that money's broken, you're thinking, okay, this might
just be the end of this matchup. A vitality might very well close it out right here with
some miraculous upper hand. However, that's just not how it went down, right? When we found OT.
Yeah. I mean, we're still in regulation. There's a moment where it's a four on two,
and it really does look like FaZe is going to take this map and steal it away from vitality.
And then we get this massive impact from Zywoo. He's able to get kills from mini,
transition now into the bomb site. And listen, that wasn't the only clutch that ended up
happening. You know, Rob's kind of stole the show for the vitality side in the end.
But you saw these massive individual moments for vitality that has kind of been absent from them coming into this tournament
I mean we've seen them against the bet boom where they struggle to get that sort of conversion
We don't get the multi kills like we do
But I mean even in our last round flamesy getting those four kills and the fences of the top site
I mean that's that's one of those spots where phase thought they found the way in only to get
Completely the door slammed in their face
You bring up a great point because a lot of this map in particular came down to those late round
interactions and transactions rather than between the two teams because
Late rounds is when things get extra stressful, right? You mean yeah
And I think that's you know where you're looking at people like twists, but she was already doing so much on the team
You want frozen to have more of that limelight as well
And there was actually I think a very comprehensive unit behind that those two, you know twists and frozen
But they didn't have the same caliber step up
You know we had messy on zero kills while all of his teammates were like eight ten on that CT side
And when we got further and further into the game, he started to have more of that impact, especially on that CT side.
So we can shift our conversations a little bit now at this point that Vitality has awakened.
You know, we did get an OT right here.
We did have both of these teams vying for a slot just to play again today to then qualify, right?
So even playing the tournament on harder mode is what you might say,
but we we shipped our attention to Dust2 and where that goes and what that might mean for Team Vitality.
Well, this is supposed to be the map that Vitality have figured out.
No team wants to touch them on this map.
And, you know, when they get the opportunity, they'll absolutely want to pick it in a series,
but you have, like you said, found a vitality that may be awoken in a sense, because that's
star power we were missing.
It's now here.
The team play, it was a little absent at times.
You could see Apex looking at Zywoo on the outer holds.
They maybe didn't look the most content with each other at times, but this is the map where
players can play a little bit more autonomously.
They already know their structure, how they set piece, their units.
And I mean, FaZe also didn't look too haunt on this map earlier in the tournament, so
I'm apprehensive, but the version of FaZe we got today is very different.
So maybe there's a hope, maybe there's a chance.
Maybe there is a hope.
For FaZe Clan, it's signs of life from individuals rather than a group whole.
What do you think?
I just think FaZe are willing to take more risks.
I mean, we saw Netshu getting onto T roof and pushing behind them.
We saw Twists so willing to continuously challenge in some mini, for example.
they applied pressure into key points on the map that are very exploitative.
So I guess I'm looking forward to seeing if they find similar things that they can utilize on that dust too,
because not many other teams have found something of that nature on this map.
So if NKJ's cooked something up or Twist is feeling the game in a good way,
yeah, I mean, I look forward to seeing what they might have in the locker.
Hey, say about how you really feel, Yumi.
Is FaZe about to get dumped on right here or what?
I'm looking forward to some phase BS. Okay. That's all I want to see. I want to see vitality tested
Yeah vitality tested of looking forward to dust to I mean if we need a mirage
I would say something went absolutely right for phase obviously, but how could they possibly get it to click as well as they just did
Well, I'm sure they're they asked the same question
I'm sure they asked the same question in terms of how they translate the you know the confidence that they showed against an energy
Versus the confidence that they can bring into a game against vitality
But they actually did play with that bravado on that first map. So yeah, they did
I I mean I have only positive emotions about a phase clan that are clearly doing some soul searching with the transition to in-game leader
Nets you is he staying is he going frozen is he staying is he going?
You know, there's a lot of conversations about this roster in this team as they they try to climb themselves back into contention for that major
It won't be the cologne major. That's that's the major pressure point on this team, but they I think they have the building blocks in
in the right place at the moment. Yeah, well with building blocks and being in
Atlanta, it's only appropriate that we tell you to use that hashtag IEM on your
favorite social media channels across all of them. I don't even know what's your
favorite one. Which channel or which hashtag? Oh, X. Okay. Well, yeah. So use
hashtag IEM over there and that's short for the Intellect Tree Masters, which is
where we are right now. We do have a quick break. We can jump back into the
action that is phase vitality here sooner rather than later dust too. As you
can see, the guys are getting situated back behind us and getting ready to go.
So we cut to that quick break. We come right back up to this
Pretty precarious situation with phase going against Vitality
But in order to get into the trenches here and talk to NKJ tell everybody what you do over there, man
What am I doing here? Yeah, I don't even know man. No, honestly, I'm here joining just freshly off of my
Stint after ends and the head coach now
So I guess we're here just to hopefully get an upset against my penalty, but tough task ahead of ourselves
It's a big ask. Hey, you're gonna come coach phase, right? Like I imagine there's a lot of things you're like, oh shit
Yeah, 100% like when I actually got that thing that was also a bit shocked like in a positive way
I guess, you know, but it is a lot more pressure than on the previous things
I did have with either ends or even with big, you know, so a lot more on my shoulders now
But excited about it. Yeah, that's it's a little different looking phase doesn't mean it's a bad-looking phase
But I will ask about a little bit of the looks versus energy
seemed like there's a lot more confidence in the face camp than say the opener versus pain which obviously went to a loss
Yeah, we definitely had a lot more confidence going
We were debriefing quite extensively after the loss against pain
We did have unfortunately like a couple of off days coming into the match against pain
But we're not like accounted for like we actually wanted to practice
But unfortunately teams were canceling on us and we couldn't find something on short notice
So was a bit messed up for us. Unfortunately. However
We did have really really good confidence going into it
We were building decent momentum as well, which unfortunately we couldn't really build against the pain and once you get Brazilian momentum
They'll just roll with it and they just dumped us
So after the debrief we just kind of outlined what we need to be focusing on in terms of our attitude and all these things and
It worked perfectly yesterday at least a map one map two was a bit of a closer effort right a closer result
But that's just new kind of nutshell look given the state of our phases
It's one thing but then across the aisle today. You've got this team vitality seems like everybody has a hard time beating them except for
the one team yesterday, so what do you as FaZe look at from a loss from them?
I mean we didn't really pay attention too much to their match in all honesty from yesterday.
We're going into the match just trying to play our game, we obviously understand that
there's no real expectations or no pressure coming into this match because they're the
best team in the world right now.
So we just go in there, we chill guys, happy to be here, trying to have a good time, trying
to show that we are capable of playing good CS and who knows, maybe one thing leads to
another and we can string some rounds together, they get maybe a bit nervous doing that back
to back losses maybe coming closer to them so let's see how it goes.
Man, I can see the smile on your face you're talking about back to back losses or vitality.
Thank you very much, okay?
Thank you for having me.
I pick on you.
Just stay alive for as long as you can, Cuba.
Yeah.
Oh, for some pick-up, right?
No, one is on the left side.
I'm going to walk over here.
Okay, hold my back up, bro.
Back up bro, we good like this
Top hot
It's fine
They're both shooting in the A
Yeah, we're in the fucking goat setup
One more, buddy
One more
Let's go!
Fucking little visas, taking our pistols!
I'll take one, I'll take one
You want me to take six?
No, no, no, I'm on fire
I'm on fire, I'm on fire
I have to go, I'm in 22 seconds
I'm taking down for you to run, you ready to run?
Yeah, I'm going, I'm going
I'm going guys
I'm getting the most
I'm on fire
Nice, I'm on fire
One more should be here
Give me the ball, let's
I'm on fire
I push R
I'm going outside
I'm going outside, they're working
For sure, 100% I'm faking lockers
I'm faking lockers
Yeah
I'm going to walk your house
I'm going to play outside
Nice!
That's a whole spine!
Let's go
Let's walk still
This can be dark
I'm searching secret I'm searching secret he's in still sight you gotta be secret oh what
he's in the dark yeah yeah it's okay i'm i'm breaking like bro yeah
nice nice
i was having an already doesn't expect you oh miss for me
has no idea where you are
you
Atlanta hotland you call whatever you want. What we've actually come here to do today
It's to keep playing and see what happens. It's the Great Peach State it is Atlanta, Georgia
But mostly a lot of historical
The hunt continues
I don't know, can you tell me anything about video games?
Huh?
You play video games?
No.
Alright man, me either.
That's what I was saying, he plays, he plays video games.
You play Counter-Strike?
Deep into the depths of the Ponce City market.
Hey man, you play video games?
I'm 45, so.
How old do you think I am?
30 teams?
Okay, yeah, that's pretty fair, but I'm 36.
We'll take that.
Not sure, man.
What do you think about two teams or players playing against each other in tournaments
and video games?
I mainly play like Rainbow, Apex.
Is it something where we can kind of mutually agree
that there are games that shouldn't be considered respectable?
Perhaps maybe like, I don't want to just put words
in your mouth, but Valorant.
I was going to say the same thing.
Yes.
You guys know anything about video games at all?
Counter-Strike?
Super Fights.
Age of Empires.
My team right now is number one in the state on Marvel.
It's Marvel Rivals.
Yeah.
My school.
What school you go to?
Carrollton.
Where can we find some Counter-Strike players?
I mean, Age of Empires is cool, but I'm
looking for Counter-Strikers.
I'd rather go to the hamburger place, maybe, you know, in the corner, H&F.
Thanks for the guidance.
You want to say something to him?
What's up guys?
This is...
What is it?
Poverty.
P-O-V-E-R-T.
Bro, I was about to say, that's the wildest sign off I think I've ever experienced on the show here, is poverty.
to the end of the game.
Welcome back to the Intel
Stream Masters Atlanta 2026.
It's the last day of the group
stages and it's elimination for
either face clan or vitality
right now looking like it might
just be face plan. They've had a
great fight on map number one of
new, but in the end it was
vitality to prevail in overtime
and now we moved to vitalities
dust two and this is their
home ground right? This is the
stomping ground so it has some
have the uphill battle of coming back into the series on it.
Well, I'll tell you this, at least for FaZe,
there's going to be a certain level of comfort
if you're the players at the very least of belief,
because this is a map that you like to pick as well.
And yeah, we from the outside are all talking about it
from the perspective of Vitality's dominance
and the run they've had on how incredible their dust 2 is.
But FaZe is going to be saying, you know what,
this is a map that we pick and it's one of our favorites as well.
So let's just kind of test it on it.
And after that performance on Nuke, I mean,
you can see some of the pieces and how they can heat up
and how they can play it, actually,
how they can make this work against Vitality.
Let's just see what the two teams come out looking like in the early stages.
Pistol round, and as it goes for a little bit of a peek out.
Long spots two, Twist and Pit, Jacob as well at the corner.
So it's a little bit of information for Apex to work with early on in the pistol.
Xbox Smoke and a catwalk, Molotov to run the peeks,
and Twist is going to get aggressive and make a move.
31 kills for Twists on Nuke, the opening map in the series, goes to Waste as Vitality
outlasts them and over time will someone else from FaZe be able to match that impact that
he was able to provide to keep them in that map?
Frozen spots, multiple targets here, then charge towards the B site, now Naked you!
Oh, okay, Nate you beautiful headshots.
Mezzi has to come in and make up for it.
Both B defenders take it away
and this pistol will somehow still on thanks to Mezzi.
Not an easy retake.
I know it's a three on two.
I know you have a man advantage.
There's no kit, there's no utility.
The B bomb site still can be really, really tricky
to get back into for the CT side.
Yeah, Mezzi looking for that next fight
just underneath the window.
They realized the player down
so they're putting themselves in a position
to try and pull that back.
It's gotta be Mezzi and he nearly gets all of them
But just about stealing away his Brokey.
Err, Face Clown will take the pistol.
Naityu though, he does the heavy lifting.
Yeah, that's a freakish pistol round from Naityu.
Lovely shots from Brokey, had a couple of misses on the op down the stretch of nuke.
That could have maybe changed how that map ended.
But drills a couple nice ones with the P2K here.
Naityu defending mid and the P tunnels.
Absolutely stunning shooting transitioning back and forth.
Invitality not able to get it done.
Good kills from Brokey.
Nice and quick before he gets back into cover.
That was really close for Mezzi to pull off the ace.
All right, well, AK-47 up from Mezzi.
Galil's, Deagle, scout for Apex.
It's a strong force by here.
Brokey's gonna detect it early on,
Apex sending a shot past him,
but Brokey's gone all about here.
Why don't you get out as quickly as possible
and get this ball rolling for face?
Yeah, but it might not even matter, right?
Brokey's over towards the B bomb site
and this is just gonna be vitality walking off short.
They're not even gonna wait,
He's messing with the timings a little bit.
This isn't going to be a slow drawn out strategic round.
They just have the opportunity, so they're going to attack into it.
And Brokey's AWP might have a tough time getting involved.
And Twist do anything to keep his head down.
J.K. at least taking the first kill.
Now, Twist yet to be revealed.
Messi is very aware of the possibility.
Now, he'll spot him out and he can't get the kill.
It's Zywu and Wops trying to make it happen.
But Twist, how's he got away with another one?
Twist gets over towards Goose.
Apex doesn't stop him getting there and Brokey's AWP will try and win.
putting all the Apex and Swiss stays alive somehow inside of the ramp smoke.
Okay, he's still gonna keep some of that magic from Nuke, I guess.
What a round from Swiss with the impactful kills to prevent vitality from planting the bomb,
from being comfortable inside the site, and buying the time for Brockey's op to be able to come over and have impact.
Alright, well, that's a high octane start to the map.
Two to nothing for FaZe, and finally, little things will settle down.
Vitality gonna stick to Deagle's and Unumre Pistols.
He's going to allow a good start here for FaZe.
A little bit of a shoulder shown for Broke.
It's so important to see FaZe come out with a strong start here.
Well, I mean, think about this too.
had the conversation, the quote from Frozen, about saying, you know, VRS points on some
level are more important to them than trophies at the moment to get back into the major contention
and get back into the invite bubble. Think of how many they gain if they're able to upset
vitality. Yeah, they're going to move up to the 19th place. First map slip and away was
an excellent opportunity. Let's see if they can apply a similar level of pressure to vitality
and force them in a really really scrappy Dust2 game.
Get through Dust2, Mirage is up next.
Over the last couple of weeks we have seen some weaknesses there for Vitality.
It's a bit messy to get taken out by the Grenade.
Oh, it's Dome though by 8x8.
Oh my god, he's got one more in him!
Okay, you can't let this one go. It's gonna be broke. He's sending a shot back up towards Rob.
Put a bomb plant this in and a 3v3 here. Flames only has a glock, so really shouldn't be getting too much down from this situation,
but they're not looking at it. Oh, he had burst fire on.
Uh-oh. Oh, yep.
Two rifles recovered those. I was an AK-47 playing at railing. Apex is gonna have the M4 out towards long.
Still gonna be tough. Utility for the CT side. A kit as well on frozen.
Yeah, well, it's a chance, especially with Apex getting another one of you.
But Saewoo in a clutch, well you can never count them out of this scenario, and Saewoo out of nowhere in fightality with a round win.
It started with Apex, his deeks and it closes with Saewoo on the AK.
And then the captains for both teams have a huge impact.
They're fired up here as well.
You gotta be after those deagle shots, so filthy turn in the corner.
Two kills at the Ape bombsite, one more with the M4 as the retake begins,
and then you trust your teammate, the best player in the world, to handle the 1v2.
Well, that is a huge disruption to the good start for FaZe.
It was looking like three guaranteed, but Apex out of nowhere with the Deagle erupting
with an opportunity.
They picked up weapons, and then ZywOo seized them off with the AK-47.
This is it again.
Great shot.
Turns from the flash, gets back to it.
That is some stellar shooting out of Apex.
Yeah, that's how it works in your brain when you're thinking about that round with the
That's what you fantasize, that's what you envision.
And it's just perfect for Apex there in the round.
So, steal a ton of momentum.
Good boon to the economy as well.
Zaiwu gets to pick up a free AWP and save $4,800 in his back pocket.
Investment in this round from FaZe.
Zaiwu not able to stop them from getting into lower.
They've actually fallen back, but it won't be tagged up.
Usually it's Zaiwu doing the tagging through the doors,
but he ends up getting one shot to the body.
57 HP left on Zywoo.
The smoke comes up to shroud the doors.
Bayes' clan needs to have a rebuttal of lower-tier weapons themselves.
Well, Neshu and Jacob hang on the long, those two combined.
Berke can be at railing at the A-bombsite twist,
just being a presence in middle with the scout frozen playing outside of the B-bombsite.
Vitality on making their first move to gain some control smoke up to block the vision of twist utility to say they want to pressure him and force him back into a passive stance.
Once again, once again, the avenue up short is wide open.
55 seconds on the clock.
to show whatever they want, they can start pressuring and giving the utility for a mid-to-be
split, make that defense really, really nervous, letting the clock tick down, 33 seconds, still
quiet on the map, and Vitality set to throw at the initial Savolo of utility towards short.
25 seconds, you can't respect the utility, you've just got to go, and that limited time
might just create the perfect amount of chaos for FaZe Clan to thrive.
There's a kill for Prokey, going again, Prokey with a double on the scout, 10 seconds, and
counting!
Nature enters the kill feed, and Vitality will not be able to get this round win.
They have to try and fall away and save the weapons now.
Man, I mean, how often do you see Vitality like this?
This is a very flat round from Vitality where they had all the advantages.
They never really applied any pressure anywhere.
So Faze just have the pieces of utility down the stretch to make that disjointed as the
clock is running low.
That Molotov ruins so much of what Vitality wants to do at that timing.
And surprising to see the Mommas in this round just kind of defeat themselves just due to
the passive nature of the play.
Brokey doing this obviously helps.
assisted by toy stuffing up Zylo.
Well, because of the free up that Zylo was able to get and the extra money that he had in the bank,
another up is on the board.
That really helps you get that energy back in the team.
If you're Phasian, it's going to be so disappointing having lost to Apex's Deagle.
Yeah, that round can be super deflating, but a win like that one immediately in the back
kind of makes the team forget about it.
Let's him move past it very, very quickly.
So lovely for Phasian for their mental game for the rest of Dust 2.
I'm not sure what I'm doing here.
Vitality populating mid. You've got twisters waiting out the doorway, but ends up showing a little bit too much to Zairu who will happily take twist down and open things up here for Team Vitality.
And with the CT smoke already in place, Frozen and Nature are a little bit scared, because they know that Zairu A2P can peek deep into their bomb site. Clear lines of sight.
Looking up towards Frozen.
Steps back into the site. Spam going down through the smoke here for Jacob. It's gonna be Frozen with two.
Messi and Flay is both dead.
All of a sudden, it's a 4v3 favorite phase again, and you've still got two players in this B bomb site. Frozen doing what he can. Nature revealed Apex hunts him.
thirty seconds bomb gets picked up and a pecs is going to win this in a clutch
I don't know how he's gonna do it either there's a kid on Jacob there's a flashbang
Unbroken there could be extra utility picked up on their pathing in three T
bodies strewn across middle another kid salvaged and apex only with 38 I can
hear the steps he knows one players in now he's himself is part of separate
into one the ones apex looking for a big round of glad and it's apex delivery in
Huge impact on Dust 2 from Apex, two rounds in the locker, thanks to him.
Close of fair back and forth, every single one of these rounds can test it, and Brawley, Apex just playing ring around the rosy around the big box inside the site.
FaZe could never get the read on him.
What a run from Froze and Smoke broken open, he finds Zairu as well.
Desperate trading from Vitaly just to get into the bomb site, but Apex steps up again.
Again.
Back and forth, fast towards long, M10 from Mezzy activated to turn the corner.
3M4s, a scout and a 5-7 for this phase defense.
Not happy with how that smoke lambs us, they're gonna use another one just to give them more
cover if they want to transition players into the pit.
That's exactly what they want to do.
They want to get Apex down in their strong position to get early into round six.
That's exactly the kind of Dust 2 game we wanted to see between these two teams right
back and forth, clutch moments, great shots.
We're just going to see, I mean eventually someone's going to win this tug of war, right?
Both teams are able to fight back because they're scraping together these buys, replenishing
some saved M4s or some M4s that are the only things they can afford with some pistols upgraded.
At some point someone's going to get broken and lose that back and forth and then we see
if a team can crack it wide open.
They're just fighting for that opportunity at the moment.
And it's frozen. Counting towards the underpass, lower tunnels, there's the double, and frozen, extremely happy to get away with that with the aggressive maneuver because Space Clan have the weaker weapons in play, but now they've got the two-man advantage, Apex in the corner of the smoke break, no way!
He gets away with two, he won't just get the one, frozen again with more impact, N2 dies, and that opens up the B site.
Yeah, I don't know if I don't know if Vitality fully realized how open it actually is.
They're gonna test it though, Frozen the other B defender, he got a triple kill over towards the A site,
so now they cross and Zairu has the AWP.
Mmm, he will get tagged on the cross, but they're very quick to rotate,
and that Molotov will do nothing thanks to the smoke, but Messi's gonna kill Zairu.
Out to the-
OH NO!
And it's not both as well!
And it's so back and forth and all that heavy work from Frozen at the start of the round,
I think Nathieu is going to be a little bit red in the face that he dies and opens up that B bomb site,
but my God, Saibu on the tech nine!
Three versus five recovery in the rounds.
Oh man, Nathieu is going to...
I mean, he is such a young player, such an inexperienced player at this level,
he's been great so far with that little mistake.
Phase clan are really important around to kick this off and now they're down to weaker weapons. Yeah, this is this is actually vitality
That's the breaking point that I was just mentioning in the previous round
It's a phase can't fight back now. You just have to save the weapons and wait for the money to come back
So a chance for vitality get a good grip. They're looking for a clean round
Their money is obviously busted as well due to the resistance from phase. So building up some cash is quite a priority
priority.
Going to play this round slow, knowing it's an anti-eco against a low bi, see if there's
going to be anything creative, anything aggressive, anything surprising to open up round seven.
A-TACs.
There's nothing up with a PK.
Flames is going to get both pistols.
There's not things off with A-TACs.
No issues hunting down the rest, at least frozen preventing the clean sheet.
And we'll end up being a 4-3 lead here for Team Vitality.
We were talking about someone who's eventually going to win this tug of war,
and it felt like it was going to be Vitality in the last round, but they've done it.
Yeah, it's a crazy one to recover.
And Faze had a couple of those on Nuke as well, rounds that felt like firmly in their control,
in their favor, that kind of slipped up, whether it was a retake, whether it was a man advantage or a two-man advantage.
A few of those came back to hunt them and punish them, obviously on Nuke and the loss.
Have one here and you just never know what it's going to do until the game's over.
You never know what kind of consequences it's going to have.
Frozen is going to be given the grace to save this M4.
Again, Vitality going to prioritize their own money so that they can build up a buffer.
An extra buy behind it so they can sustain a loss.
Don't want to give anything over to Frozen for no good reason.
So a lead for Vitality.
We go into round eight and FaZe looking to buy back up into this and get back to challenging.
M4's across the board. Baroquee will not have his AWP out quite yet.
For the Vitality side of things, it's mission accomplished. Plenty of money fills up after
that round win. Apex rops and flames quickly into the B tunnels.
Zairu watching mid with an AWP, allowed the scaling, making sure nobody's gonna peek and be aggressive and push.
It looks like they want to hit a timing on a mid to B split, Apex just walking out playing contact, but...
He's got it.
Yep, he does.
Cheats are going away from twists.
They even throw the door smoke, just the double door smoke, just to like pop and kind of be the sound cue that it's going to be mid control.
But no one's even home from FaZe to catch that little bit of the fake.
So we're still caught, not expecting it.
Rops.
He is going to punish that purchase and he throws it, walks right into him.
Nature, to send some shots back through the smoke.
4v3.
Still threw a ball for FaZe, thanks to Nature, but he's alone on this B site.
this b-site it's an easy call for for a taxidious at the default site now 40 HP
having to fend off all the vitality coming at him and he nearly does it
it's too many it's now a 2v2 thanks to that performance out of nature yeah it's
doable it's how much courage to brokey and Jacob have to come for this retake
you have a kit on brokey I mean it's I was spot like are you ever going to read
this Zai Wu oh yeah he's gonna have a look now when he doesn't spot him it's
I was already looking up. So it ends up being a kill for Zairou, leaving Messi in the 1v1
and Jacob's going to race back. Now he has picked up the kit, he's got plenty of utility
and the clutches inside of this B-side have gone the way of Vitality and it looks like
it's going to happen again as Messi's got the headshot off the top of the box.
He just stands and fights Jacob knowing exactly where he's coming in from, giving Vitality the edge
and now extending a lead to two.
Oh man, I thought Broke would have seen Zairou as he jumps up onto the railing.
didn't get that glimpse fast enough. Great call from Apex and Vitality. Nothing super
strategic, just a little trickery to open up the round and hit that timing to grab
Twist early. You pick him off, you know he's the kind of supportive element that shifts
between the bomb sites, keeps an eye on Mid. You find one of the B players as well and
then all of a sudden you're saying, yeah, we just, we have a 4 on 1. Easiest call of
to make his life
five to three that's what's with the hero and four in this round
bomb to be shifting its way into the bomb site no resistance here what
so ever for face as he can apply pressure on law he will die so that's a
better weapon available to frozen
Yeah, it looks like he's trying to get a jump on boxing them in so they can't save any weapons or run away with anything, but...
His teammates over at the beat-bomb site didn't really encounter any resistance, just one player of Jacob.
So it might have been a little bit early for Mezzi to move.
SineK47 passed over to FaZe for free, and once again much like Nuke, lining up to take some exit kills over towards tunnels.
Apex is going to try and hold onto this escape route.
So I wooze a little bit deeper in the tunnels as well.
Yeah, this side we're trying to get out and we'll handle it.
So P250 to the headshot on Brokey allows I would have crossed safely to save the AWP.
Nice attempt, good idea from FaZe, just trying to snatch a couple of away at the end, obviously
doesn't pan out in their favor.
But they do pick up that AK-47, that's dropped to the ground, AWP coming back out.
Double AWP setup coming out for FaZe that they switch into.
It worked on Nuke for one round.
Brokey's presence in the upper bomb site funneled them towards Frozen's up in Ramp Room.
We'll see if they can get something similar going on Dust2.
They could use a tactic that gives them a little bit of a run here.
They need an injection of energy back into the team again.
It was a great back and forth winning some rounds.
They shouldn't in that first few, but mentality has stabilized
and got into a rhythm on this T-side and you have to disrupt it if you're facing.
Yeah, it can be a little bit dangerous that early back and forth
that had so many close rounds and close clutches, right?
Because you're getting hyped up when you win them.
and very very low when you lose and back and forth the energy, the emotional roller coaster of it,
when you eventually do end up being on the losing end and broken and kind of lose that ability to
take the tug of war fights. It can feel a little bit deflating for a while, so anything that anyone
on phase can do, someone make a play. Double up, see if Brokie can ignite this team if that
AWP can have the influence. I was going to look for the cross a little bit late, they're already passed.
So Frozen's up looking mid, Brokey's up, taking down it long.
Yeah, you can see the frustration.
Head smacks the back of the chair there from Brokey as I will.
Takes away any opportunity of Brokey delivering impact for FaZe here.
This is going to be a bit of a sinking feeling for the side of FaZe.
Now they lose twists as well.
They picked some unfortunate timing on the quick switch, he isn't fully punished though.
As I would have known during work though, that's both ops now that he's picked off.
Yeah, that's vitality and full control now.
The rhythm is here, this is the Dust 2, we've seen for them so many times,
but you can't even shoot them, you can't even get anything to go your way.
Well, I mean, look, the credits of vitality obviously on this T side,
because what they've done is just put FaZe in a really awkward situation, right?
You've had now a round where you see Robs in another player just kind of dry challenge into the B bomb site.
Sure it was an anti-eco, but they show they're willing to go kind of bully you in B tunnels.
You've seen some fast plays out towards long.
You've seen the Zywoo trying to pick the cross now picking long.
You had the contact walk from Apex out middle. They got you a pick on the twist.
So I mean there's just been so many variations that Vitality is opening up with.
It's hard for FaZe to read and go for a good plan of what they're supposed to do.
And once that happens, players start getting picked off, plan crumbles, and the map gets way easier for vitality.
He drops with an 8 Ziquit's meant to do a little bit of chip damage.
Now he's going to get aggressed upon and the flashbang could be perfect.
Yeah, flash goes in, drop, 4 hit.
Still gets 1, trade is through from nature.
If I tell you, you're not going to be going towards the B site, they funnel back through
short.
Flash and 2 man push, that's 3 players of information.
You've got a 4 and 2 at the A bomb site, if you're at worst.
Yeah, so they piece that information together and they're very decisive to make them move
towards A before Faze can really position themselves.
flank is here and Broke you will win the all-in-one engagement against Cy
Wolves who does open up a chance and they're smoked out and blocked away.
I think Faze should go for this right? There's one round left after this
they're gonna be buying in the next round they do have a double-op setup but
I feel like you might as well test it here because you're gonna have the money
to invest down the road and still chances to save these ops if the fights
don't go your way initially. It's just the time they have to waste to get in
position and they don't have a kit available so it's starting to look
increasingly unlikely they'll be able to pull it off but they're getting closer
and closer. Mezzie tap it away with a flashbang assisted. It's health phase back long enough.
It's starting to feel just impossible as that time is ticking on, but sometimes the impossible is
just improbable, but they've got to find the bomb. They get to the T-fuse, but no time for it.
The time will cost them the ultimate enemy. There will be another round here for Vitality.
Yeah, Kuro Ritek put together just a little bit too late in the day. You still get out with
with an AWP in the hands of TWIST 2 AK-47, so not the worst eventuality, but obviously
if you're FaZe you're not finding any positives at the moment, looking at a 3-8 scoreline.
And on top of that, a 7-0 run from Vitality.
So what can they do to scrape together a fourth round, one final before the halftime break?
A 4-1 start with only nature alone on this side of the map,
Frozen's gonna be playing in CT spawn to start.
Yeah, phase one ain't nothing to do with the early fights.
Just sitting back with the vitality of all the real estate they want.
They can walk up short and trip around that corner, Brokey would be waiting for them.
And he is now sitting tight.
That utility is going to come in.
Forced to change up his position, drop off that angle and Vitality get further control
across the map.
Now Brokey blinded, the AWPer having to fall away unable to chime in with a kill that could
It helped face clan out to you.
Vitality of the time to respect the utile, draw out the final piece to the face, and
then begin their execution for the finishing round.
A lot of pressure on Jacob 1v2 at long, as Brokey's attention will be kept here at A.
Flicks up, nice shot from Broke, he needs another one, and connects it, Jacob dies at long side, Broke burning, feet singed.
There was another fight just coming this way at long, but just eats flashbangs all round long.
It's Messi and Robs now trying to come in to close this one out from long.
FaZe they've got a good job at holding onto the site.
This hash started with so much promise, so back and forth, but it falls to Twist just to try to squeeze the next round.
and Swiss does get to double and fourth round the play with the face will find out if it's enough to stay alive in Atlanta after the break
Well, it was a play back and forth to fair to start just here, but once Frightality gained
hold of the game, they never let go.
A 7-0 run in the middle of that half to take an 8-4 lead as they switch sides to defense
in its face staring at the need for a comeback to stay alive here in Atlanta, trying to cause
an extremely unlikely upset.
on Nuke on the first map gave them a little bit of belief and Vitality might have just ripped that out of their hearts in the first half of Dust 2.
Yeah, well, they've got to really dig deep and find some resolve to get through this one. A pistol round coming right up.
Plenty of Utah here for Broke. We're going to see FaZe populate the tunnels with three players.
FaZe has only lost like two pistol rounds in Atlanta so far.
Very, very good at the pistol rounds.
Let's see if they can get another one. It's a great start. Twist, ripping apart Mazzy.
As I was in the same spot
And the staffs make no secret about his position trying to move forward and play with his teammates, but
Again phase just so good and pistol rounds have got great start for this round
Yeah, vitality was really really committed to setting up that trap right the spring off catwalking through double doors with the flashbang to activate things
Apex shapes one player off, but still so much you're gonna need an incredibly an incredible amount of just those
There's all some headshots as one bullet headshots if you want to get back into this
I always got no HP to provide resistance
So he's got to play out towards long where he can be a little bit tricky and reliant some timing
Into the a bombsite we go. It's wide open
Apex shifting over through CT spawn Rob's gonna be following up not enough resources to watch the flank
So Nate she was gonna have a chance to have impact
Apex slipping down below the A sites frozen with both headshots on the clock
And they'll say see you later as rops. That's the fight on two fronts. They just wrap around the back
It's another pistol for phase a really important one here on dust 2
We'll see what vitality decides to do if they go for the four-spy or they let phase have a great chance
It's just taking two a row. Oh, they're coming in for the four-spy. It packs about that scout real quick
Yeah, they did picking one up as well. So yeah, we're gonna get them some contention here in this round two
And these kills just come out so fast
Mezzy's just kind of walking into the angle. He's gushed and killed before he even sees anybody.
Another strong pistol from FaZe to help them close the gap at the start of the second half.
We're going to get some aggression and early tag from Apex.
And he backs off happy with the damage he's caused early.
Well, you know what you're up against now?
Vitality force. You're taking some early damage.
Let's see how FaZe respond.
Oh, we're getting out of the boost going here. But in the meantime, is that spelling? We've
got Rob's kicking out through low and tunnel.
Hey, thanks. Just right to the door. It's twisted vitality with a two man advantage and
the health advantage because Jacob down on 29, I was going to say, it's not even the
player he initially tagged. He's still have softened up Jacob ready to be taken down sick.
Little peak from lower from Rob's as well to just make that a chaotic, disjointed situation,
frozen into it, two of the heavy hitters on the face side, knocked out of this fight in round 14.
So at 3v5 they have no map control, they've caused no damage,
and yet another tag from Apex, who's controlling the map with a scout.
A brutal way to have to open up this second half, the pistol round victory is so strong,
now all of a sudden put on the back foot and you're just getting whittled down.
final Hail Mary into the A bomb site for Brokey Netshu and Jacob.
Okay.
Oh, there's another tag.
Yeah, FaZe the walking wounded into the final play of the A site.
It's gonna be Flames and CyWoo.
With all the shots required, they don't even lose a player in the four-spy.
I don't even know if FaZe ever even got a clean look back, any kind of a significant fight,
any kind of a decent situation to try and find a kill in return.
return. That's nasty, just sliding over, hitting through the door. Peace, close lines.
And Zairu just style points jumping up on the railing. Judges give it 10 out of 10, it's
9 to 5.
The Vitality Special.
And now it's a little bit of football, so there we go.
That's about the situation we're in. Just sadly head to the park, maybe I'll football
out get some fresh air what vitality do outside the server though during their
break it's true this is just their warm-up yeah I was watching the outside
earlier just in the break just you know so outside juggling the ball yeah keep
your piece that's pretty good yeah I do this in the arena for world yeah they
did the crowd loved it it's nice in American crowd get into get into the
of all. Well the World Cup is coming Jason. World Cup is coming. How do you think about
it? You're looking for tickets? Yeah I would like some tickets but I'm not gonna pay those
prices. Yeah absolutely insane so I think I'll watch this instead. It's always bad.
I want to go one you know before the end. I want to get myself to a World Cup. Well unfortunately
you're priced out even in your own country. Yeah it feels that way doesn't it? Well timed
out now a phase. They've got 40 seconds so they start to make their way through the door.
There's three players, a pack moving toward Mr. Apex at the galeel. He's not the worst welcoming.
He's killed everybody pretty much. His teammate's all coming in to help out and that's it. So,
turn five, Vitality at double figures. It's not even a great scenario for phase now. Like,
they don't even have enough money to buy now. No, it's not pretty, is it? Oh, god, this is horrible.
That's a very, very rough place to be if you're phase. And they do not want to order the Vitality
special that's for sure i think that's that's also part of the reason why i
like it just feels a little bit deflated to is i think they they kind of know
just like it not that it is impossible to come back from but like the odds just
stacked against them in so many ways and again another round was just pistols
low buy
vitality said two rounds in a row of five players surviving so you know if
your face their money's building you know the task to reset them and break that
economy is just gonna be so difficult to accomplish
So, trying to get in position to hit a mid to B split at the moment, Frozen and Jacob
out middle.
Smoke towards the double doors of the B bomb site, we're going to start moving into this
split.
Frozen's gotten past.
Oh, rups, taking two, twist and net you both dead, Frozen steps out with a little bit of
points. Brokey also with the Tag 9, but a 2v3. Let's see what Jacob can do. He can even
open up this possibility of a dream round. He's getting flanked through the top middle.
Apex wins the engagement, and it's just Brokey, who's on his own, just on the box of the
beat-bombs side. They're all coming in from the same side.
This is all about baiting Apex. You know, just send Apex in. You don't have to go with
him. Just let him figure out exactly where Brokey is for you. Those two players follow
it up.
Here's the steps, Apex jumping ahead down, broke deep.
Spanned down to 19 HP, now trying to wrap her on the box, but too much pressure from Vitality.
Apex shot him to go get the...
Sound like he was saying, up mid.
11-5 for Vitality.
Strong retake, end prime position, complete control this game, not a single disadvantage in for FaZe.
This will be the strongest buy you have, so if you can't win it...
This game in this series is just going to fizzle away and you're going to be eliminated from IM Atlanta, so it all falls onto this investment.
Brokey with the AWP, four AK-47s around it, all the nades they could want.
Just a really tough task of vitality on the other side of the server.
I think he was calling to just, uh, boom.
Oh, my back! And that's going to be Zywoo! Well, well, well.
Brokey is having a tough time against Zywoo, isn't he?
Don't do that, don't do that, Jacob. You just saw what he did.
You really think he's not going to punish you too?
Your teammate's brain is on the wall behind you. Just chill.
Sorry, that was very fissure.
That was, I liked it though.
It was...
Oh, there we go.
Oh.
You do nothing but just kind of go, okay, fair enough that was another round where Zai
was just, oh, me before I actually get to play the round.
I mean, that feels like outside of the pistol.
That's been like just the story of this second half.
Anytime there's been any kind of investment, you know, second round those scouts are picking
you off before you're able to move down the map.
Now Zai Wu's grabbed the kill before you're able to do anything.
You're just playing these games, these rounds at a disadvantage every time you have a weapon.
Oh, twist stepping through the mid-doors, no one from Vitality home.
So at least he has a little bit of space to play without here.
And he's gonna block the tunnels of 10 teams.
to block it and race there, they come straight through the doors and Tyler rocks on the clean-up
of the wheel, making it look so easy that series point for team vitality and for Faze
Clash staring an elimination in Atlanta.
Man, the first five rounds of this game were awesome.
They were fun, close.
Close map as well.
Yeah, back and forth.
Faze was putting some pressure on vitality, forcing them uncomfortable situations, but
it was that unfortunate scenario where once vitality grabbed control out of that back
and forth, they just never looked back.
Phases had no stopping power. T-side from Vitality showed so many different looks.
Phases could never get into the rhythm of how Vitality was playing the map, could never catch him off guard.
And I think just so deflated over that seven-and-nothing run in the first half that Phases haven't been able to get back into the game.
Filthy shot on a brookie as well. None of that helps.
Every time I hit something like that, it just makes you feel more and more helpless.
And now executing right into a cross-wire at the B bomb site that deletes you.
So no AWP, no AK-47s, three Galils, a D.G.G.L. and a TEC-9 to keep FaZe alive at the Intel Extreme Masters in Atlanta.
Vitality about to move on to play against Bait for that last spot.
In the quarterfinals.
And for phase, it'll be a disappointing exit, unless something miraculous can happen.
And gather up at short.
No one from Vitality here to spot it. We're detected early on at all.
So, at least you're given some time to put your utility in place and give this your best go as FaZe move forward.
It's going to be their final move because Zywu opens up their coffin, throws them in with a collateral.
And who else to close things out but Zywu?
Three kills and Tag is small. Jorba run is up and Zywu finally put in the ground.
There's a 4k from Zywu and now it's on Robson Flames to round it out against N2 and they will. Flames drops in.
It is spaced down and out here in Atlanta. Vitality fight on to the final game of the
group stages. They'll play against Bate for a spot in the quarterfinals. A couple of weeks
of entertaining Karraschreife and FaZe. The recovery mission for VRS points is that they
will fall in group stages here to the world's number one team.
Yeah, but I'm with you on the fact that the past couple weeks of watching them, showing
and seeing some of the life, seeing some of the old flashes, and seeing some of these
young guys like Jacob and Nature step up for them. There's some cool pieces here and it's
It's nice seeing them have some impact and test some of these top thoughts, but Vitality
was always going to feel like it was way far out of reach for this early, early lineup
coming in for FaZe and for Vitality.
You look at it and say, mission accomplished.
Great rebound from yesterday.
Felt really weird casting them in an elimination game.
Not too often we get that, but they stood up to the task like they have so many others.
Yeah, no favorites to go on as well when they're playing against Bait.
That's a mismatch in terms of the experience and the expectations in that game.
So Vitality should be making it to the playoffs again.
We'll have to wait and see how that goes down, but unfortunately for FaZe, it is an exit and we've got Twist standing by.
It's one of those unfortunate moments where we are going to be saying goodbye to FaZe Clan
and graciously enough, Twist is here to kind of give us some words on that out itself.
Let's talk about this match from the very tip top.
You guys had him on the ropes here a little bit in that first map.
Nuke, what's it mean?
I mean, it was a really good map for us.
I think we put on a good T side display.
We were doing very well on CT side.
I think the Fatality plot armor kind of hit.
They won a lot of key duels and key situations.
I feel like we had them up late on the map, but couldn't convert it.
I'm lucky.
It seems like they got away with some of the phase BS sometimes in some of those rounds.
Like they were really pulling out just some nonstop things that really tilted the tide
there.
Russ, and if we just switch it over to a little bit of a 11-11, money's ruined there towards
the end of the map.
We fast forward even further than that into the very, we finished the series itself.
It's late rounds.
I think it was late rounds that came down a difference bigger today.
Is that right?
I think so. I mean, we would have like good situations in three on three and they're a very experienced team with very experienced players
So they are taking the right gaps taking the right timings and they're you know, isolating duals really well on the later on
So yeah, we'll play to them one last thing I've got for you
This has been an exciting couple of weeks watching you guys and I understand there's a lot of moving parts over here for face
So anything you can tell us on your way out here in Atlanta
No, just gonna do our best in the next event
I think it was an unfortunate lower bracket meeting.
Not saying that we couldn't beat Vitality because we showed that there was high chances
on Nuke, but I think another opponent today would have gotten rolled.
So I'm lucky.
Thank you very much, Russ.
No problem.
I
I'm the coach of the year. I want the coach of the year. There are small details on
One could attract, but people don't extend.
We're here with X-Tas from Vitality, back-to-back major winner in 2025.
Claimed 9 trophies in the past 12 months.
And one day may rank amongst the greats, such as Sonic and Blade.
So what I'd like to do today is have you what we through some of your key tactics on Mirage.
We rush. First tactic I can show you is to execute. First you have flameseed, mazes throwing
utilities, robs here, apex as well. Then you have two guys running with double smoke.
Zawoo is behind and then Zawoo holding, make sure cannot pick CT, kill people, robs going
out, mazes going out and like that if we lose the round or we do some guys, at least Zawoo
You can clutch.
Okay, excellent.
So really just using your pieces to facilitate Saibou.
Great stuff.
I wouldn't say exactly that, actually.
It happens.
It has to be the player behind.
And you know, it's like that.
It's not because it's Saibou.
Yeah, I just assume that...
One.
Okay.
I'm going to show you another strategy.
The main secret.
One of the most efficient strategies.
Saibou.
He will show you to ED on B, right?
first, maybe second, can be Rob, so Apex mid, and the other guy behind, okay? Then we jump,
taking sides, and that's okay, so we show each other, then ordering kitchen, looking people.
Okay, so using lots of utility and setting up side which you ideally close the round.
Mal, he has the ult, so he has to close the round. It's not because he's sidewood,
he just, he's the MVP right now, and no one else is the MVP.
Strategy 3. We call this one Protect of President.
So this is Apex, the star player.
Then Gany does the president. You have Zayu.
You have Flamzy mid. And even Maze.
And Robs baiting on A.
Flamzy and Maze will go first. They die first and not Apex.
That's the key, right? Because Apex is really good to revenge.
And then you have Zai Wu holding city and killing people.
Okay, so maybe Apex will get an opener, but it's still Zai Wu to close the round.
No, he's the hopper.
When expecting weapon, you don't understand that.
Ali is set up dunk, only if he's second-image genius.
I set up Zai Wu and Cyclone by fucking underrated.
I won the coach of the year.
You were with me on stage? Yes or no?
Yeah, I was on stage, I definitely saw it.
Can we just get one more strategy breakdown?
Yes, I'm going to explain you how to strike a bit because Mirage, you have mid, okay?
Mid is the key.
So what you have?
First, entry flagger, because he has to be the entry, right?
And no, not the MVP, cannot be Zywoo.
Okay, you have Robs and Mezzy, throwing flash and smoke.
Everything for the mid controls of flash, Mezzy has to go.
Robs, flash.
Zywoo, you need a flash?
Yes or no?
Yes?
I need a flash.
Yes, I'm okay to make sure I cannot type.
I peck somewhere because it's the president.
Okay. Then you have mean control.
That's it. It's not like experience.
That's not simple like that.
I'm not saying don't go key.
Okay. 26, 28 categories. That's not easy for us.
That's why I'm the gold.
This is all I'm about to do.
Tell.
Acer Predator.
DHL.
Checks.
And Zone.
to the next round. The
lower bracket run begins now for
game. Allegiant if they want to
survive here at the intellect
stream Masters Atlanta 2026.
They will need to seal the
see just yesterday after let's be
honest, another rough going on
dust two today. It's truly
going to be a test of stamina.
If they want any hopes of hanging
on here in N. A. My name is
first biz joined by pin and
yanko for the long haul today.
We're going to be following
along these two teams. Whoever
does win will be playing the
last game today because yeah,
this is a kind of the tougher
of the format. Jacob, the fact
that if you win this doesn't
guarantee you to play out as we
just saw for vitality. No,
it's all about surviving in
one obviously being able to get the job done in the later game. I think both teams are coming into
this game you know with with hopes of making it through. Both teams are in a bit of a different
place I'd say right now. Gamer Legion trending upwards for my money seems to be a team with a
bit more confidence at the moment where for liquids it's about avoiding disaster. It's about
avoiding getting eliminated from another tournament where we're speaking about them
not living up to not even their potential but not living up to anything per se.
Yeah I think for Gamer Legion flew a bit under the radar this season because we haven't seen them at
as many tier 1 tournaments, you know, they went about getting to the major by playing some of these tier 2 lands, regional lands,
you know, and I think it was smart because they got the job done. They will be at the major, Liquid even with the region change barely made it,
didn't have as much success at some of these smaller tournaments, and you mentioned us too, it's also something that Plague's team Liquid,
like, those were their map picks, that wasn't like teams punish picking them, no, that's like, oh, we liked us too, we're good on us too,
we lose to 13-5, right? So they're very struggling a lot at the moment, they're just figuring out their
identity. Exactly, it feels like they don't even know who they are at the moment. We do know though
that both these two teams will be starting in stage one of the major. I just want to bring up the
teams so that we can kind of have a little bit of a temperature check of who else is going to be
with them. You said Jacob, you feel like you have more hopes for game allegiance than Liquid. When you
look at these 16 teams that are going to be starting the major alongside them, do you feel like they
How would it take to make a deep run here?
Obviously, name value, yes, they should have had what it takes in order to make it to stage two,
but with the way they've been playing as of late, with the lack of identity, with the exits of the
tournament and the way they conduct themselves right now, I think there's a lot of teams in
stage one who could potentially beat Team Liquid. I don't think it's going to be as easy as it on
paper probably should have been for Liquid in a decent shape. So yeah, I think stage one is
completely up for the taking for pretty much all the teams in it, and Liquid is by no means one
of the heavy favourites. Well, where's game in that?
I think with the way they're playing right now, they're in the better half of it.
I think one of the teams I suspect and expect will go into Stage 2,
whereas for Team Liquid, to me, it's a bit more of a wild card.
Yeah, I think for Liquid, honestly, it will depend on the luck of the draw.
If they face the better teams from Stage 1, I don't think they make it.
But if they get a bit lucky with some draws at key moments,
like, yeah, they can make it into Stage 2, which will be the end of their major run.
I don't think they can make it out of Stage 2.
Like, it's just where they are as a team, you know?
and we talked about it yesterday, you're making a mistake if you're looking at Team Liquid and
reading the names of the players, like just read the name of the organization and like that
tells you the whole story about where they are across multiple iterations of the roster,
it's just been failure after failure, disappointment after disappointment and honestly even with you
know the addition of maps and whatnot like even this iteration isn't giving you a lot of faith
that, you know, three months from now we'll be talking about Team Liquid as a top 12 team,
you know, a staple at tier one tournaments. I don't see it. I think it's best for everybody.
If you do just ignore that names, I think you're totally right, Enko, because if you look at these
guys individually, I feel like they all have the potential to be achieving so much more. And it
goes back to your initial point of there is just no synergy, experience doesn't equal synergy.
It's not potential. We've seen it. We've seen Malabs on G2, right, with Niko and Monosibar
on the team. We've seen NaF, we've been watching him for a long time, we know what
Elysia is capable of. Surely he had a decent period with Maus, but maybe they
benched him for a reason, right? And ultimately I think it's fair to say they
didn't pan out in a manner in which they would have hoped for, right? Hold flashing
in high regard, you know, as someone who understands CS on a very high level. So
even though you have these pitch, if you look at them on their own, right, like
There's a lot to be positive about, but as a group, they're just not working out.
In terms of their results so far here in Atlanta, maybe even a surprise to see them surviving
versus MATE yesterday, as we were already talking about, two horrific showings on Dust2, their
map pick.
What have you had to kind of take away from that game versus MATE just yesterday and obviously
the one versus Astralis to kick off today?
Nothing positive, you know, because that was my hope coming into the tournament that after
They took a four-week break, they spoke about having a bootcamp, they spoke about practising a lot and they spoke about working on the real issues within the team and I felt to myself,
okay, maybe I'll spend some soul-searching, maybe they've figured it out, maybe they've built a bit of chemistry and built a bit of, I guess, team play in that period.
And then they come in, the first game against Astralis is very underwhelming, losing to MAD on the first map as well, very underwhelming.
Then obviously it's great for Neff and I think Melps as well had a great individual showing yesterday to kind of take them over the finish line.
and those are some of the things you can pinpoint, you know, be like, okay, it's good to see Neff playing well,
it's good to see Melch finding impact, but as a team in terms of Liquid and believing in that project moving the right direction,
I haven't seen anything that...
Exactly, that goes back to your point entirely. It takes individuals, it's not the team play, they're netting these wins and arguably, you know,
NAE playing poorly on those last two maps as well.
Yeah, I think I saw a leg somewhere tweet, you know, given an interview before the game saying, well, it's Liquid,
So a mid-game from us should be enough.
So I guess that's not what they displayed yesterday,
but absolutely, it's difficult.
I think also for Malibu's coming in from G2,
it was such a tight group and, you know,
so Jovial and everything,
like I don't imagine the atmosphere is the same
in this team despite everyone trying their best.
But, you know, on the flip side,
you have Gamer Legion who also made a roster change,
brought in snacks, a veteran, you know, experienced IGL,
and it has been successful, right?
Like considering some of the results towards the end of last year,
this year they've been getting the job done, right?
Obviously being at the major and now seeing more of them
at some of these tier one tournaments
getting some good wins under their belt.
All the comparison between Ingame Leaders is a really interesting one.
Maybe a bit more sad for Shuhei,
but interesting if you look at the snacks.
Yeah, it's two different players from two different generations.
Obviously, snacks on the other side of being 30 years of age
and have a bit of a research into what in his career as an Ingame Leader,
Shuei was supposed to be this young up-and-coming in-game leader. As Yanko said, he was
benched, kicked, whatever, for Maus, maybe for a reason, and it never really came out.
But let's be completely honest, if you look at what Shuei has done with Team Liquid, the answer is
absolutely nothing. There's been no adoration of any of the roster he's worked with within Team Liquid,
where he's found any sort of success that is probably justified with the names that he has to work with.
Whereas for Snacks, I think it's fair that we praise him. As you said, Yanko as well,
they've had a different approach to it, played some more tier 2 tournaments, but at least they're getting the results,
at least they're getting the job done and it's on a different scale on a different level anyway
But I think he's doing a good job with what he has to work. I think it's important to note also like there's
Different spots for different people the fact that you know
My opinion snacks wasn't the right IGL for G2 during that time doesn't mean that he is not the right IGL for gamer legion
I think he can actually once he gets rolling like the way they play the T side, you know having set rounds playing with pace
I think that's a good approach for a team that doesn't have as much firepower and some of the other squad
right? Like if you just try to play default against these teams that have better players,
more experienced players than you, that know how to read the game better, can react faster,
well you're always going to be playing from behind, you'll be on the back foot, so you need to
change your approach in a way that sort of evens the playing field. It may sound a bit cruel, but
I don't know if you agree, but it also takes the thinking out of it a bit for some of these
game-religion players, right? You have less experience, you have players that hasn't been around
for a long, long time, the more basics so and so you play, the more out of spawn calls next is
is doing the less individual decision-making there is each round for some of these players
whereas if you tried to do that if you're Shuhei, wouldn't team Liquid.
I don't think Elish would accept that.
Like he wants the freedom to be able to make mid-round decisions.
Same goes for Napoli, same goes for all these experienced players.
So you have to approach it in a different way.
It's funny because the best result that Team Liquid has had in the last year, it feels
like was that Fischer tournament in Belgrade when Twitz was on his way out, they sort of
saved their Budapest major hopes.
And what they did there is, at some points in the tournament, after they were like 0-2
or one and two, they just started playing fast on T-side every round. Doesn't matter
if it doesn't work. They were playing fast with pace and they made it all the way into
the semifinal, right? So, maybe something that they can look at for this particular five
to maybe implement just to get some results towards the end of this.
I mean, just going back to your point about game legion and the approach there, the evidence
to your argument with Ancient yesterday versus Navi, right? Like the fact that they started
on the T side, the approach that they had, like, let's be real, Ancient was one of Navi's best maps.
Like, this is a really impressive result, even though it didn't translate into a series win.
Certainly. And also, listen, what I'm talking about doesn't mean they exclusively play, like,
set round, right? Obviously, they play defaulted times, and sometimes they have a fast opening,
and trades happen, then you have to mid-round. You know, it's not like they don't know how to do it,
but that's where you will see them mess up some rounds more often than they're not, right? And
That's fine, you have your strengths, you have your weaknesses, you obviously try to play towards your strengths
and we'll see if Liquid has the similar approach to Na'Vi where they were really using a lot of utility early on the CT side
to extend the round and, you know, force Gamer Legion to play in a way that maybe they're not best at.
Well, maybe we should get some thoughts regarding that series yesterday versus Na'Vi, courtesy of Talzin and Trace.
Gamer Legion jumping into the Saturday Liquid on the other side, Talzin, so graciously joining me for some words before we jump into that matchup itself.
for Gamer Legion, yeah, a good opener there versus the Senors.
Then the little Navi that could.
Let's talk about your game against Navi.
It was a tough game on the rush.
I feel like it could have gotten both ways.
But in the end, they took it.
But yeah, it was definitely a very close game.
And I feel like we could have won that.
But in the end, they won.
So it was a loss.
It definitely is what it is.
There's such a contrast in that series, though.
Map 2, we're looking at what was a 13-1 versus the other two
maps.
Tell me a little bit about the gameplay
that your team approached Navi with.
I think we had a very good like game plan before going into it.
How we should count the Maccasin mids.
And I think it worked pretty good.
I think we got 11 runs on the T side and yeah,
we kind of fucked it around the mid.
So I think we had a good game plan and it worked.
So I'm happy with that.
You come into today's matchup and you look over there team liquid
who are definitely not exactly where they want to be
by any stretch of the liquid imagination.
How much pressure does it put on you
when you look at where team liquid is right now to play them today?
I mean, maybe they're not in the best spot right now,
But I mean they have five really good players so we know they can shoot hard
So we expect a tough game, of course, and we're gonna see what happens after anything you want to say the game religion fans
There's a several of them out there even
Favour supporting us
All right. Well, let's do just that. Thank you very much. Johnson. That's game religion versus liquid
Jacob say it on the desk. He said five good players on team liquid. Do you agree with that?
I'm a good day. There's two and a half within team liquid and I don't think he believes in himself to be completely honest
I don't think anyone is looking at Team Liquid right now, and yes, sure you can respect the players and what they've achieved in the past,
but going up against them on the server in this very moment, I think Tau-Sun and GameLegend and anyone else in this tournament are not necessarily sure in Team Liquid.
So he's playing it nice and being a nice guy, but let's be completely honest.
None of the players within Team Liquid are living up to whatever we want to call it, whether that is potential or what they should be at.
You know, Elise is a great example. He's the third highest rated player within Team Liquid right now.
He shouldn't be. He should be without a doubt the guy that has the most output on the server.
He's not having a good time, Liquid is not having a good time, so I don't think Tarzan believes that.
It must be too hard on the guy, I mean, he's Danish, they're polite, nice, Jacob obviously the outlier, right?
But yeah, we'll see for Team Liquid, it's about getting some wins under their belt, getting some confidence.
I mean, they won like 30% of their maps so far with Malabs, there really isn't much to be excited about for these early days.
But maybe that's the silver lining.
it is still early days with miles, maybe the dynamic that has changed is taking longer
than they would have liked to get everything up to speed and it could have been disastrous
if they also were out in last place yesterday and losing to M80.
So they avoided the worst case scenario, maybe that alleviates some of the pressure of their
shoulders and they can play with more freedom and unleash themselves in a way.
Oh Jacob, whilst you may not be polite, you're a little bit of a nerd, you found an interesting
about Rez in his 2026. Yeah, it's a ghost without saying that Rez has been playing well so far in
this year. I think Snacks coming in has helped him to get a bit more freedom as well. So I looked
into the statistics of Rez who's been around for a long, long time and statistically speaking,
he's having the best start to a career year that he's had ever in his career. Literally ever. Literally
ever. Now the caveat of that and I think it has to be said is that yeah, Gamer Legion are not
necessarily playing the same caliber of teams that he used to play all the time in NIP. Well,
Well, not necessary problems, you know, but some of the two tournaments do you're referencing, right?
So in terms of raw statistics, yes, Res seems to be back at his best, and I think it's evident on the server as well.
He's playing well, he's playing with confidence, having a good output, but I guess the level of opposition is not comparable to when he was in NIP.
So from a stats point of view, yeah, he's getting better, seemingly.
In terms of the output on the server, we'll have to see if he can do it against the likes of Liquid and better teams.
Did they miss the announcement, Freya? Did Jacob become an ambassador for Game Changer and after the vitality deal fell through?
like this sounds like exactly how you would try to you know hype him up and
modern bro you're having the best start of your year ever don't worry about you
playing like you know 16 year old walls in Denmark in an open land right like
you're owning you're owning your back just think about it now but he has been
having good issues the veteran presence alongside snacks they have a good mix now
of experience in youth thousand it's been more more than a year now it almost
feels like that he stepped up his level so game of Legion just about finding that
consistency you know like it's been a lot of self-inflicted injuries with this
roster that causes them to lose some games as we see the veto come out I
like the mirage pick from liquid this seemed ever since flashy came in this
this seemed to have been the map they had had the most success on which is no
surprise considering he was the assistant coach of blade in navi and we all
know navi is mirage so mirage new inferno I don't think there's any huge
surprises here of one of these two teams potentially a long day does await them so let's kick it off right here right now as liquid
versus game of Legion
Liquid versus game of Legion. I know you're excited for this one. Oh, you know it
Yeah, we'll see if liquid can get the win today versus game of Legion game of Legion coming in on some decent form
You know and a surprising result in Fort Worth looking to try and continue that into Atlanta
Yeah, that would be that would be cool to see on the other side of things liquid is still trying to do
Whatever it is that Liquid tries to do these things, they're coming, they're working on things.
We're looking forward to seeing it. We're taking it all from the Rage.
A good shot for Liquid to get a good start into the series.
We'll see how this one shakes out.
The Intangible Stream Masters at Lancet 2026.
CT side stop for Game Religion, Liquid on the T side, and plenty of Utah into this pistol.
Yeah, they were all geared up towards the A bomb site and T spawn,
so this is just going to be a set piece and execute called right out of spawn by Shuhei.
And then ultimate towards the ramp, NAF mobs in a leash, up in Palace.
They'll have PR to deal with on the balcony, highpacks over in the cubby, snacks back at ticket, so a very strong defense.
And actually PR is going to get aggressive, he finds the angle for the first.
Yeah, well, highpacks just winning down in the Sandwich, it's going to be a nice shot from snacks.
Now they are into the slight highpacks, one out from Sandwich.
Finally traded by Shuhei, but you've got ultimate and Shuhei now in a 2v2 thanks to those kills.
kills. It's doable again for Team Liquid. There's so much time still on the clock, but trying to get
that ball. It's going to be denied by Telsen. In fact, he takes two. Yeah, I mean, there's some of
there's some of the mistakes that you can't see. I mean, that's his ultimate kind of final sleep.
A little bit just picking up the bomb. I think that's going to be clear. Crosses over, sees nobody
spawn. Crosses back with the bomb in his hand and picked off for free. Not ready for that follow-up
fight. He had a great shot with the P250 on snacks. Who gets the impactful kill, the first player
streaming at a palace that really helps secure this pistol round right here, right through the edge,
the boards. If NAV gets down, the Covey player gets discovered a little bit earlier, but
that's too easy for Towson in the 2v2. One-nothing for Gamer Legion.
Yeah, and it's just a deagle here for Aleesh. I think that's the player that we have to
talk about more. If it's Team Liquid Squad, we're here playing in America, and you want
to see an American team do well. They haven't necessarily had the best run, Jason, in American
Squad. You just lost twists in the last game to Team Vitality.
Like how you said it's not been the best run as if I was gonna fight your back on that one
If you had to like, you know, you had to like ease me into that that kind of you know, I know I was just seeing
You know, I didn't want to upset you Jason
Do you think there is any hope in team liquid doing it though because if you look at this side
I'm making a playoffs here in Atlanta. Yeah, because if you look at this side of the bracket
You've got on the other game Astralis sinners the winner goes on to play the lower final
And then game of legion here
I feel like this is the best shot, it's Liquid are gonna do it, it's on this side of the bracket.
Yeah, I mean like realistically the teams that they're going up against as you just mentioned,
Game Religion, Sinners and Astralis still alive in that lower bracket,
like they're up and down in nature, right? Like you're not gonna think point at any of those
teams and be like, I know I can rely on the consistency of this team to deliver in these
big games, you know, when they get there. So yeah, like there's a chance, I'd say it seems a small
chance with just the vibe that it feels like Liquid is carrying at the moment and with those
consistent struggle so um you know ask me at the end of the series you know if
they win and I've gotten a good look at what they're playing.
Alright well you can trust this yellow it's gonna go once the guns come out here
if it's Team Liquid it's 5 AK-47 in malts snapping out towards Tetris.
Gonna retreat back into the ramp. Don't mind that at all cool little challenge as
well you know that's unlikely to have it off on the board so go for that Pete.
Shuei's made his way back to the boxes, but he's taken a ton of damage.
Snax is maintaining some aggression ultimate, and Shuei happy to let them have this and
back away.
Molotov is in, Smoke coming in to defuse, and Shuei will survive.
Oh, there's Elise, tapping onto the head of Raios, so it's a great start to the round
here for Team Liquid.
That's the one two punch they want to get rolling, Molbs and Elise.
Yeah, that can get going.
Obviously it looks a lot more deadly, but you got Snax coming off the ladder and dropping
into the window.
So he's stolen it away. How would liquid let this happen ultimate 1v2? He's died as well
Oh, that is disastrous
You got there the one to punch going at least mom's get the two openers and you still lose the round
Yeah, just no no patience in that for team liquid
They get the kills and everyone's trying to continue moving on to the next play and nobody's just taking a moment to kind of speak with
Each other and get coordinated look for some kind of follow-up move
And they just walk right into all the traps never let game religions sweat the fact that they've just put him at a five on three
straight into a tech pause. So, Ali's turning around with the mic up, talking
back to the admins, so we'll figure out what that is. It's actually on the
game religion side of things. Oh, that round was nasty, isn't it? Yeah, that one,
that one hurts Team Liquid for sure, but you know, they didn't look like it
knocked them two off center. They might just be used to it at this point. Game
religion, you know, getting away with one, still a good round to recover for them.
Still a good job rotating into the correct positions, but I think Liquid
made that recovery a little bit easier than it needed to be.
I haven't got a whole lot to fall back on here, liquid either.
So best case scenario, a couple of upgraded pistols.
Look at the happens here working on the microphone of Hypex.
So yeah, we kind of talked a little bit
about the schedule, some more games going on today.
Obviously, game religion liquid going on right now.
Astralis Sinners will be played during this time slot as well.
And then a little bit later on, we've
got uh... the deciding games to go up at boom pain
they put out a new naughty legacy
yet that obviously the two winners on the side of the bracket for the lower
final as well coming up later on as well either liquid uh... liquid or game
religion versus strahler's or sinners so
yeah we're going to put up the brackets and get those players started over the
weekend little day off for media
players and teams get to relax a little bit
oh yeah for a sense of famously was a lot of it
It's not as intense, you know, but they do have the playoff games of prayer for as well
So when you got the morning shift to do the lobby Jason, that's like, oh, we got it. Hey guys
Problem, that's a that's everybody. That's our version of we all hate 10 a.m. That's
Anybody want to talk? I'm sure no one wish to talk right now. It's in liquid
Disappointing round lost in the previous they will have some upgraded pistols to play with we've got tech 9s coming out and two deagles
And we'll see what team liquid can do here. I
I kind of like the way, I mean, in Pimp fashion, very, very direct and just straight to the point.
The liquid kind of all five players, like, really struggling.
I think, you know, part of the point you could make on what he mentioned is, you know, you have so many strong players on this team,
but it feels like all five of them are playing poorly compared to what we know they're capable of.
In their roles within this squad, it feels like not everyone is reaching that potential.
Whether you want to point towards Shuhei and new coach Flashy, not able to get a consistent system where this team looks like it's moving in the right direction,
in the right direction, whether you want to talk about a leash, not having his typical
like, you know, you pop off games, playmaking ability, racking up kills, volume fragger.
Yeah, well, I mean, we said that as well as seeing muted in his roles compared to the
past.
I feel like we can say that for a long time about seem like, you know, right, like everybody
who's gone to the team, who knows a great player, necessarily been able to get the most
out of themselves.
I mean, Nertz is a great example recently who's got back into form over at G2.
Yeah.
And you wonder, where, where was that Nertz?
For one of those teams that's hit that point where it just feels like there hasn't been
anything new to discuss around them for the past few months, the addition of mobs and
the departure of nerts kind of being the biggest point to look at and kind of have conversations
around.
I just haven't seen the progress quite yet for Team Liquid's side.
I liked the win over N80 yesterday though.
That was good for them recovering from the first map.
Yeah, I mean there's a certain pride in being the best team in North America I suppose,
Jason.
I mean, look, there is. It means nothing in the context of World Counter-Strike, obviously,
which is a little joke you're tapping into there, but yeah.
The regional pride is a huge, huge thing within the teams.
Shuei's gonna make his move down the mid-ramp through the smoke, bypassing Hypex's AWP for the moment.
Yeah, come down to the peak, but he is going to lose it to Ultimate, so...
An advancing side of a team liquid.
And Shuei-Mas just found the perfect timing to get in behind Ryze, but he has turret, he's not considering this.
I'm sure I still win the fight, so a 5v3 for Team Liquid. We've been here before.
No, but this one's different, right? There's not as many players grouped up in advanced positions,
so everyone kind of recognizes that there's no play to capitalize on quite yet,
so they can still maintain this patience.
As Nath and Malb's move in, start probing into the B-Bomb site.
Towson on short sandwiched.
Yeah, it goes back in, that'll be the round.
Team Liquid won't let this one go, they'll go and get the bomb, they'll shift it over to the site.
And Team Liquid will get their first T-Round on the board.
I think another thing that's been great about a game of Legion recently, we heard Jacob talking about Rez, but I think it's snacks and high-packs have been enjoyable players to watch.
The high-packs was talking to me on Media Day saying that when he first came into the team, he noticed how all the AWPers before were just getting cut brutally and not performing whatsoever.
And so he did feel a little bit nervous coming into the team knowing that that spot was always under scrutiny
And he was kind of in his own head
He was reading hate comments and then show TV and read it and really getting in his own head
Then a certain point he just switched and said I don't care what they think, you know
I don't care what they say even vitality is getting hate
So he's he's definitely started to step up and be a lot more confident
I think we started to see some more flashy plays out of him and him really show what he's capable of
Yeah, tough thing for the new players to step into is the increased scrutiny on the gameplay.
And cool to see Gamer Legion as well, like with snacks like a rejoining and at the helm,
getting some nice wins and some nice upsets as well.
You know, in the last three months, they've had some very impressive upsets.
Took a 2-1 series win over Furia 2 over Astralis.
Really close affair with Nobby last night where it felt like they were going to take that series for a while.
So, playing well with this new logo as well.
How do you like the new logo? Do you want to do it?
It's got a very medieval vibe.
When I'm far away, I don't even know what it is.
If I'm sitting away from the logo, I can't tell what it is,
but I do think it looks quite cool.
It looks cool on a black teacher, you know?
Yeah.
Sort of metal concert.
It looks like a band logo, Jason.
It looks pretty cool on a black jersey.
Yes, like what they were exposed right now.
So yeah.
Works well.
All right, snacks could give us a good death metal screen
Gonna check a day down to a legion's position ship them down to 86
Utility in place now for liquid to start making their initial moves
ultimate with the op top mid
Smokes and window smokes and con
Malph's getting a name in the backpack
Razor retreating.
Yeah, I mean this is, Licklitz doing a pretty good job, slow progression, slowly creeping in, good trade from Elise up towards Khan.
Hypex gets one more.
He'll snap away, now here comes Mobs, under a minute on the clock, that P-Bomb's not under pressure.
Three people here though.
Here in the South queue with the Molotov burning away the defenders, but yeah, you're right, there's a lot of defenders here.
Telsin getting the one kill, Naph able to trade it, but he's waiting for the next fight and he wants that angle towards Market.
He's just not getting it so now just gonna start falling away with the ball on his back because ultimates move through
And he's actually a good spot here. Can he take the kill though? No. Hypex clocks what's happening looks back to the murder hole
Ultimate steps into the open and now NAF has to really save that 8kid. There's no other option
That was always gonna be hard to get that bomb back to the A site even with even with ultimate up in window room
Not a lot of time on the clock ultimate felt like he had to take the aggressive angle once again liquid stopped cold
Felt like they made good progress in middle, but all the presence from Gamer Legion and
Khan, the fights, the extra kill from Hypex, the turning point into the round when he gets
the kill onto Aleige.
This round fades away from Liquid 1-5, Gamer Legion's defense still holding strong, snacks
with 9 kills, 9 kills and Hypex with the AWP has 7 frags to his name.
Great work from Hypex, ceiling it here.
Make sure there's no escape route, no Plan B for Liquid.
AWP in the hands of Ultimate, yet again, 4 AK-47s for Team Liquid, battling it around 7.
It's a very regional split from Team Liquid in the way this is organized.
Shuei and Ultimate doing a lot of work together.
The Leesh mobs and NAF.
Different pairings of two that they work together, the Americans and the Europeans.
Yep, sure, and ultimately able to communicate in Polish.
If they want, just gonna confuse everybody on the team.
We got Leesh looking up on towards short.
You can see him very passionately communicating right now.
100 minute on the clock.
Team Liquid spurred across the map, no one from Game Illusion giving any looks, any information, no challenges against this T side at the moment.
That's a worry, well I mean, where's we're more? There's no pressure being applied by Team Liquid anywhere.
Kind of moving around this map quietly, Illusion alert position at the bottom of Khan.
The defense has been pulled over to the A bomb set, they sense this hit coming.
throwing out utility to really secure the fake.
Elysia is going to make his move a kill, would do wonders,
and he might have it, but he doesn't know about PR off to the left.
Now he realizes, and he wants that kill, he's got it.
Oh, the sourcute betrays PR completely.
Now, Towson, he's been put under quite a bit of pressure
in multiple times now, trying to defend the B bomb site from short.
Once again, not a single kill from Towson,
and that's the site over where bomb planted,
and no other option but to save these weapons on the A site
for game allegiance as second round for Team Liquid.
Yeah, really strong. You get that rotation from Gamer Legion, but just the fake from NAF and the extra kill from Elise just really, really secures the fact that Gamer Legion is gonna feel like A is the final play.
And this time you go to exploit that B bombsite with the load and defender instead of dealing with three of them shifting over. So Liquid get a second on the board.
He's going to try and take some guns away, flash in, perfects.
Res blinded, going to back away, the AWP is covering, big win.
Okay, I think Shura just mentioned he's enjoying it, he likes the slower rounds, so we're going
to keep Liquid watching them play with this kind of pace.
Yeah, he said keep the energy up as well did look even though it was a slow round and everything was it was pretty calm on the server
controlled right?
Elise was really passionately communicating
Yeah, well he's in the he's in kind of like the the off position away from the action
So he's also in the position the middle of the map where you can gather the most intel
So he's the one calling out what defense he's encountering what he's sensing what he's seeing in that
Information being passed over to Shuhei constantly keeps him confident in what kind of call he's working with and what he's thinking
So, Alicia's in that role where, yeah, everything he's passing over to the team is the valuable intel that they need.
He spotted two, he knew there was one right side mid, one left side mid.
You'd probably assume there's going to be one at least somewhere in the A-bomb set as well.
And made that nice and easy for Liquid to continue just moving forward into B.
Timeout comes through a close, five to two.
GamerLegion wanted to talk things over, money starting to dwindle.
They've got a little bit cash left in the tank, and depending on what they say, they can still have very strong buys.
But Liquid's going to keep trying to run this together.
Go back to an execute towards the A bomb site, Elysia in a bit of trouble, jumps up on the boxes,
nade damage and a light shot down to 4 HP.
Here goes Shu-Ai out into the site, PR's got both.
Okay, delivering on Shu-Ai and Malts, he goes in again,
a third frag ultimate this time, dead at Tetris and Elysia 4 HP.
So, you come out of this timeout, you're excited, you've just won another round
and immediately Team Liquid handed a defeat in a couple of seconds.
Yeah, I mean, again, this is too easy.
PR getting his double, and actually even chiming in with a third kill on Ultimate as the AWP,
but man, in a round where you can do a lot of economic damage, you get no kills.
How deflating. Big opportunity for Liquid wasted.
And a very easy defense for PR and Gamer Legion, so likely 6-2.
Elysian Naph.
Have a long time to stay alive and just the mate tickling a leash takes him down
Snacks is pushed up four players defending the bomb. There's no opening for naff
Okay, well, I mean we've seen some good rounds out of Team Liquid, the problem is it just
feels like so so much up and down that the bad rounds have been really flat, like this.
Yeah, dead in a few seconds, and then you just kind of have to stall out so you can get
an AK in the next round.
And Gamer Legion just keep everybody up.
We have to say Gamer Legion doing really good job at point of contact in these first
eight rounds.
Oh, then there's no off as well.
I mean like you know game religion in middle has been able to grab some kills there has been able to keep that
D that attack in middle back a little bit
Now over towards the a bomb said a couple times we've seen team look would challenge the pistol round now this round
They've been able to shut it down also. It's really the as shoey kind of mentioned the slow rounds that he was enjoying
Moving around the map and forcing game religion to make some decisions
That's where they've been able to find their success in those gaps in the defense
Well, they at least a lot of it go by in terms of rifles on every player
but the Leafs are gonna have to play with the Galileo and they're also down to the wire.
You know if they lose this round their money is going to be reset and that's where game
religion can really start to pull things away. PR confident after his previous round 4k.
He kept his aggressive to try and grab the opener. He loses it against Malm's but height
pecs response. So 4v4, minute 30 on the clock and Towson has pushed through the B apartments.
He's in the kitchen and he might go a little further now as he's looking towards that underpass.
He's all the way up look at ultimate though. He's gonna throw some utility. Where does he go after the fact drops down back to T spawn?
Yeah, it's Allison's found a perfect timing for this
There's still some time before the strategy comes to fruition for team liquid
So he's got plenty of it to close the gap now. He has a decision to make here T spawn or mid
Down the stairway to keep things quiet and he's going T spawn
He's getting behind ultimate. That's the bomb. He's got it. Oh, we can just spill it right now
As soon as he sees that bomb blinking on his back,
Hypex here as well,
chiming in with the AWP and a connector flashy.
Lans for shot, Naft goes out, dies to rise.
7-2, game legion, suffocating Liquid.
Yeah, Liquid's got nothing going on right now.
Offense not even close to moving.
Not no plays being made, no kills being found,
no pressure being applied.
Just slowly progressing to their death
and what a huge push from Towson.
Now you're starting to see some confidence spread
throughout game religion
those kind of moves early. Those kinds of advantages provide them to the gamer
legion side. The information, the early flank. Liquid and flash you're gonna take
a time out to talk things over. At a three round losing bonus so everyone's
sitting around 3,000 3500 mobs a little bit above that but nothing crazy to
scrape together rifles into a buy. I think this has got to be a small
investment of armor and pistols. You have the Hero AK on mobs. But you're having an
issue now where Hypex is off and starting to heat up, starting to punish you every step
of the way. Opening tags, opening damage, now he's wrecking your executes.
The three rounds left in the half here can literally grab any of them. It doesn't look
like in this round, you know, you've got mobs on an AK, everybody else in a weaker weapon.
Disappointing in this first half from Team Liquid.
Even more so in this round for Elise, who spammed down through that smoke.
Snacks takes the opener, and now you're going to funnel into the A-Play, which has never really worked.
Hypix does miss a shot, but he's got PR to back him up.
Get trade from Malm's, needed to get that trade.
But Snacks is looking towards Khan, he's got Shuay.
And he just got naff from Malm's, walking their way out.
Now Malm's is still fighting, he's doing what he can here for Team Liquid.
He's taking a good amount of damage down to 22 health.
All the smoke clears, the smoke is always going to fade at some point and that was going to be the real danger point, but not even getting the bomb plants.
So all you can do if your NAF is grab one or two more kills on the way out.
Stuck inside the bomb site, the NAID finishes him off, 8-2 comprehensive dominance for Gamer Legion on Mirage.
And this is Liquid's map pick.
Just throw that little stanker in right at the end.
It is indeed their map selection
Seen him with a misshaw from the AWPer
He's always there to back him up as the failsafe
I'm still doing what he can but
Ultimately his teammates couldn't get into good enough positions to actually help him
Eight to two so two rounds left
Liquid into the AKs once again a faster play out middle this time a leash not getting spammed down through the smoke
He's gone quick res knows now gets the AK out but in the meantime a leash has taken the opening kill here 15 liquid
I like the change of pace like the assertiveness could kill found but you still plenty of gamer leecher members here looking for fights
Oh, I know line up spray down naff and a leash gone and snacks can still get away
Disaster no rose goes in ultimately gonna be taken out mobs gets one headshot right back keeping this one competitive
But had shown talson takes it shuei left 1v2
two. The Camerleges never let them execute. So many bodies thrown at the issue in middle.
And Shuhei left to pick up the pieces. Oh no, no, no. I mean it was looking like a
couple of rounds early. Team Liquid might be able to get into this T side, but it all
just stalled out completely. It's the, it's the, it was the, it was like slow, it was
that slow round win that they had into the A execute. That was just all five players
There's what, rounds seven and eight?
I just got destroyed.
Yeah, you win the round, you have the economy a little bit low,
you have it at a really weak point, and then game
religion, just stuff, and they hit all five players survive,
and they've never looked back since.
Grouping up in Palace, you've got Team Liquid ready to go down
to the site, PR waiting for them all the way back at CT spawn.
We're going to play behind the smokes here for game legion.
Not playing disruptive within the site.
PR actually steps in front of what right the smokes would be.
Hasn't made it work though.
Hypex and Snack certainly will.
Game legion getting three kills in quick succession.
Stalling out this last round of the half, Team Liquid
are going to leave the first half and arrive with a measly two rounds to play with.
Analyze the leash, can do something about it, and it's just the one kill, leaving mobs all the way back at Tetris.
Stepping out with a galeel.
I'll give it a go, he'll do what he can.
Much like last round, as soon as the smoke fades, he doesn't have any more options, he's got to find a kill before it disappears.
Pure dominance from Gamer Legion.
Mobs at least getting Towson, he's got 40 seconds.
Mistake a peek, that's all he needs, but he can't get it.
It's a 10-2 lead for Gameligen. It's domination on Team Liquid's map pick.
I
I'd love to paint a positive picture about Team Liquid going into this second half, but it's been all Gamer Legion.
We can just stop talking about them because they haven't even showed up yet in this series.
This elimination series at IEM Atlanta.
Gamer Legion has just been straight dominant since this began.
15 kills on Snacks rolling back to years.
All the focus on Rez, how well he's been playing.
It's Snacks to bring back some of that old level.
Hype X at 14 and 3. The AWP has been dominant.
And they're looking to just put this first map of the series away nice and quick.
Yes indeed they are. Game of Luging. Quick to see them back and play them well.
As they get ready to go into the A-bomb site, a pistol round would be the knockout blow.
Surely too much work to be done for Team Liquid?
And Malm's going to be looking down into the ramp. Now no head show just yet.
Honestly, it's not the amount of work that needs to be done, it's just the eye test.
Oh, okay, well that eye test is pretty sweet.
Yeah, no eyes left and tells us in the high-packs both their heads taken off.
off. I got Raius coming down to the ramp doing what he can with the glock, but it's nothing.
It gets shut down here, coming through for Team Liquid in the pistol, and that is at
least step one.
Yeah, I mean, pretty much the very similar tactics for both teams. Just executes on the
T-pistol. The gamer legion decided to send more bodies up the ramp. Liquid sent more through
Palace, but the result is the same. Dominant pistol round victory for the defense. So, Liquid
get their third, stay alive. They get at least to start with the advantage and the momentum
to see how much of a comeback they can muster.
Shui doing his best to get everyone hyped up down the line.
That'll take a little bit more time.
That's gonna take the gap in the score close-in
just a little bit before you'll see
the rest of Team Liquid kind of activate
and tap into that same energy.
Lovely shots from Malbs though.
Basically wins the round before it even begins.
That's the main strength of the attack
is that initial thrust to create the space
for the rest of the Glocks following things up.
Yeah, we got really nothing to look forward to in this round for Team Liquid.
But for Team Liquid, let's see if they can just clean it up without losing a player.
And you rush out middle, hit the rifles, and yep, that's nice and easy.
Get through that one quickly.
Alright, let's see what they can do.
Guns are coming out now.
AK-47 is going to fill up the feed for Team Liquid.
Utility being invested in.
How do they want to start off this T side campaign?
No op yet for Hypex, Team Liquid's gonna love that for the moment because it was brutal
in the first half.
Liquid was very mid focused.
And they're opening T side campaign.
Mirage, we know that mid is always gonna have tons of action, but how do game religion
want to start things?
Snacks towards middle.
Resin, Towson, and Halls, Hypex in support.
PR is going to be watching for the A-Push.
Oh, Snacks.
He's back.
Continuing the form, isn't he?
Started the second half.
He's dome and a leash.
Was it PR you mentioned,
said he hadn't watched any of the old-school Snacks' highlights?
Yeah.
So we didn't know he was actually good back in the day?
Yeah, he's like, uh, I didn't watch Counter-Strike back then.
Was Snacks' good?
I've only seen your most recent work and wasn't impressed.
Snacks was showing him some clips.
Well, now he can get some more modern ones into the Highlight Reel.
Yeah, definitely. It's been great to see snacks coming into this.
I mean, it obviously had a stint in Game of Legion for a while, then it went to G2.
G2, middling success, I'm sure.
I'm sure he's learned a lot, and then gone back to Game of Legion again.
And great to see the form of snacks be solid over the last couple of events here.
Got an ultimate waiting inside of Colony.
He's got plenty of players coming this way.
I thought some of that pressure
Both dead responses good from high packs, but
Malp's low HP hiding under the wood is a thin board and eventually high packs will take the head shot
But naff has been sneaky the whole time waiting for this moment to peek out and strike it to 1v2 for naff
Now just the 1v1 tells on top of the stairs a dink lands to his head
49 HP left tells him just trying to get that AK to land
20 seconds, NAV can use the clock. Three bullets left in that AK, now two for Telsen.
Going for the reload now.
NAV is using the clock. Telsen is going to have to deal with the pressure of this positional change from NAV.
He knows he's there. He's looking to attack. Telsen actually wins it.
NAV even got an extra shot off, but Telsen nails that headshot and braves Gamelitch in up to 11.
I didn't seem like Telsen actually noticed the reposition. I thought he might have with one last poker to head over the stairs.
Maybe one of his teammates called it out because that realization sank in a little bit late
Lovely shot from snacks on to a leash ultimate brings this back into an even affair
And after those good work inside the bomb site, but the clutch the AK-47 even those talcins brought low that MP9 just cannot finish the kill
4 to 11 it's gotten a little bit worse for team liquid seven rounds back now, but they have the open the hands of ultimate
And once again, Snack's bringing Gamer Legion over to the A-Bomb site.
Another set piece.
No, Bombs able to steal away one and hold on to it for the time being, but Gamer Legion
starts to send their forces out, right?
Great, sharp shooting out of Palace.
The trade is through for Shoei.
Look at these some Snacks.
to the sky but that pressure is handled here by Team Liquid. How many can Hypex bring down
with it? That's a great save from Ultimate. It helps Shuei stay alive. The Maktan coming
in from short Ultimate just changes his gaze and picks him off. Oh, baby. Now we're top.
Oh, it's clutch music. I was ready for that. Clutch making time. We're making clutches.
AK picked up for Hypex as well. It's got a little more top down there. Suddenly the only
thing is getting hot and heavy and hateful.
I put my gun, love the evening with the Molotov light.
Someone hit the wrong button.
Alright, high-packs.
You know, eventually I think you just try and slide into the bomb site and get the bomb planted.
He's looking for that mistake, right?
Enough time has passed that Ultimate has to be concerned and at least conscious of the B bomb site
and the chance for him to have wrapped all the way around the map.
Once to shave off one player before committing to the plant, Molotov does it go nearly as
deep as he wanted the two to flush out Shuei's position, so bomb will get planted safely,
extra cash over for Gamer Legion, and a tough clutch.
Yeah, right down on default out in the open and nothing he could do.
Nothing can really pull off that, so recovery to the round for Team Liquid.
fifth round on the board and importantly they got to keep the weapons in their hands,
keep buying the rifles, keep moving forward and seeing how far they can take this Mirage
map, see how much they can come alive here and get ready for the rest of the series.
Map number two is Nuke, picked by Gamer Legion, that's going to be the battlefield where Liquid
probably is looking like that they'll have to come back in the series four.
But another round even with the bomb plant that Gamer Legion sit back on just upgraded
pistols so liquid can close the gap a little bit further.
Deagles, across the board we call this one the Deco.
Let's see if it'll work out for Game of Legion, how much can they do with it?
It's kind of a cool Deagle skin.
It has got a little bit of shine and sparkle to it.
It's got a thing to it.
Glitter, glitter always makes things better, Jason.
Yeah.
It's true in my experience.
Alright, well, game religion is going to take this slow around the initial salvo of utility.
Let's read through the notes.
Notice game religion prints out pictures on this.
Yeah, they're like a picture playbook.
Yeah, a young team, Jason.
I like that. There's less chance of confusion, I feel.
A picture book.
art. What do you think that are they picking? Have you seen the pictures? Have you seen
it close up? I assume it'd be pictures of utility lineups. It could be. I'd be the most
useful picture that I could think of. I'm just seeing it on the page of Hypex.
When we've got to the player camera. Okay. It probably is like a line up. That's what I think,
right? It's like, guys, you don't even have to learn the page anymore. That's a good start from
Hypex, is Deagle. I'm also make sure, man, it's all over though. Yeah, good job from Elysian as well.
spring into action to collapse on middle before anything gets out of control.
One death taken so far by Team Liquid, Rez won't be able to add another on top of it.
Also speaking to Rez earlier in the competition as well, he was very quick to mention I.M.
Oaklet.
So tell me, you know back in America, were that one event?
Oh my God, I love that meme.
It's one of my favorite memes.
I'm so glad that he's into it too.
I'm so glad actually Pimp hyped him up today, had that tweet earlier, because I feel like
It's been a while since we've been able to go back and hype up res. Yeah, you know, it's it feels like it's such a cyclical thing
I'm glad we got to do it. You know at the midpoint of 20
And yanko brought us back to reality. That's he's generally good
It was fun for a while to place aggression from ultimate. You want to hype up ultimate Jason?
Not yet. I'm gonna get there how to do it. Maybe he's getting me there though. He's bringing me close. He's got that big opening kill
Well, let's see advanced is Team Liquid are looking for, starting to close this gap.
PR, flash coming this way.
So it's Malphs, and that is just perfect.
So PR can't do anything about that.
Team Liquid have a two-minute advantage.
Yeah, cool seeing Liquid take the initiative.
The opening play with the AWP, Malphs following it up.
You probably didn't think the next aggressive stance was going to be in Palace after the
ultimate push.
And good find from Elise.
Shuei recognized the jump up going on.
Malph's going to peek.
This is perfect, Liquid. Everything's going in their favor. No one from Danilusion has even fired back until just now.
A single kill for Hypex.
And that's how he's gonna get 11-7.
Liquid building up into this map.
It took them a long time to wake up. They were absent the entire first half.
But three in a row and five of six so far as they switch sides...
Has them looking good on the CT side
Ultimate taking a look at the topic on its shoe a to the opener
I seem like we're starting to get some momentum now now's gonna get tested for the first time in this half though
Yeah, it's coming at him. He's got the AK out
The golden AK, golden boy, team liquid. Let's see if NAF can hold on.
Well that smoke it feels like dissuaded the progression from game religion.
The three people back in Res up have all slipped away so it looks like Res might just turn into a little bit of a lurk trying to find some timing.
Maybe when NAF is reloading to make his move and NAF is going to get taken down.
At least he's got to be careful made in hand. Oh he's got a second, there we go Res.
Shades of Oakland as he cracks into the B-Bomb site.
site. Yep, here he is. Or easy, delivering on the TAC 9. That site wide open. Game
religion have a shot at map point, but bomb's trying to close it.
It's Towson that's gone. Numbers again even. But the bomb is now joining the rest
of the pack. It's Shuei. Such an important kill to pick up here. Now they're
holding the line. Holding the cross. LWP's gonna miss though.
Uuuh, ultimate! Brain switched off, ran out into the open, PR punishes him, and they're about to pay the ultimate price for that mistake.
And Shuhei emuls in a 2v2, Gamer Legion trying to get map point, it's PR to do it! Shuhei alone, PR hiding in some other shot, he's got the red and PR punishes!
Shuhei's gone, it's Gamer Legion up to map point, and Liquid let it go!
I don't even know what to say, you can't, it's also, I mean, two of the most experienced players on Team Liquid,
Aleyj and Naph, and both of them just get bodybagged by Rez. Like, that's how this round is lost.
It's a Tek9 walking into contact at the B bomb site against two rifles,
and killing them both, out-dueling each of them, in turn, in sequence.
The ultimate mistake of trying to come out and just not even kind of considering another player over towards short
is its own thing, but that round slipped out of control in a way that should have never
happened. Five chances for Gamer Legion, lovely round from Rez, and a little bit of a tech
issue. So all that intensity is just gonna, we're gonna chill for a bit.
You get to stew in that though if you team Liquid.
It is the worst time for a tech issue if you're Liquid.
Yeah, so now we have to sit in silence and think about that last one
Now we just have to we can't even talk I can't even figure out what we're wrong
I just have to envision in my head the circumstances exactly what he's just doing right now to a res double entry with a tec-9
I have to imagine that in my brain
and there he is
Stone Cold Killer the Oakland MVP
the
Oakland MVP the only one
of a veteran now is rose not even a bit of a veteran he just he just is a better
man I'm this is this is cool from game religion I'm liking what I'm seeing
across the board 19 kills now on hypex reds having a quiet map but still finding
a way to have huge huge impact one very loud round and game religion they're
set up very very nicely to close out this map. Nuke is next as the second in the series
and it's looking like Liquid's gonna need to win that to bring us to a third decider which
would be Inferno if we can make it there. Ooh, doesn't, I mean if Liquid lose this it feels very
difficult to imagine a world in which we get Inferno. Yeah it does, especially again it's
why I kind of mentioned like you asked me if I thought Liquid had the like real potential to
to make the playoffs. Let me get those eye tests first. Let me see how they're playing.
It's not looks good. That T-side is there's nothing inspiring that I've seen.
The problem is, it's like one of those scenarios too, it's like, yeah, there's going to be some
good rounds where it looks like they have some cool ideas and everyone performs well. But when
you have a round like that with the Tech 9, it's just like none of those amazing rounds matter if
like you can just lose this. Like, you know, in the midst of a comeback, on a bit of a streak,
You have all the advantages in the world and you lose that three-round streak to
Again a tech nine. I'm sending it again. Just I can hardly still believe it
Well coming into this next round once we get going we'll have a double-up setup for team liquid NAF and ultimate gonna be wielding the snipers
Head says back all for high back. So hopefully
I mean we're gonna get back into the game. It just looks like a thumbs up flash didn't it? Yeah
Well, the other stream going on at the moment, here at IEM Atlanta, going to be Astralis
taking on Sinners.
Winner of that game takes on the winner of this game in the lower bracket final of Group
B, so spotting the quarterfinals or elimination and the consequences of that one.
This itself is an elimination in game as well.
team and goes home without any chance of looking towards the stage.
Well, game of the legion, with a win here, we feel like their chances are pretty high for getting into the playoffs.
Well, team strawlers or sitters in front of them, it feels like a very winnable game.
It's a very open side of the bracket.
As you mentioned earlier, yeah, it feels like any four of these teams might be able to have a good crack at it
So all right, here we go. Yeah back into the action round 20 out of the devastating loss
Just reminder one more time is a technos. This is the one that just blows up you in the back of the room
Snacks.
And now Game Religion make their move, walking up Catwalk.
About to turn the corner into the B bomb site.
Towson and Hall's Naphis here.
It's a double up setup.
Shuhei sliding over.
second up also in position to be here quickly good shot from NAF and now needs
to follow it up and he will. Okay, yep that's more like it from NAF. I'll play down on the side
he's gonna burn but he's got some utility to help him out. This flame's still
up somewhat present but not burning him not taking him down the bullets well
though P.R. spotting the next crossing over but there's still Shuei to deal with
still a throat the bench they haven't spotted him and this play for Shuei now
reveals himself and he will deny Gamelits in the win in this round. Yeah
Really really good timing on Shuhei to slide over to be that third player at that B bomb site really well done to get into some safety
NAF gets his couple of kills that secures Shuhei's little sneaky
Decision hiding behind the smoke good trigger discipline to make sure you secure to end the round
First kill towards short dropping off able to find the second as well good recovery for NAF in the situation
It seems like the chat finally found the caster mute button Jason. I lost it for a second felt that way
Yeah, they finally figured it out. All right, ultimate straight to the smooth. That's Towson dead
That's a great start to the round here for Team Liquid, but can they continue it?
They do, they get rid of the money here for Game of Legion, and then we can start thinking about the realms of possibility
to start coming back into this and talk about overtime in a little bit, but NAF has got that pick,
PR's gone, and now a 3v5 for Game of Legion to try and flip back in their favor.
Yeah, cool switch up for NAF into the AWP setup as the defender of the B bomb set,
especially after you get exploited by res the few rounds back in that kind of a
loss you know they're gonna test you again you know if res can walk in and
do that with a pistol they're gonna say let's go back to it because that defense
over there is you know obviously a little bit weak switch up into the op and
now whenever anyone challenges him he's got an easier time of things now he's
out in the open a wider angle here so a missed shot spells his death there's no
escape from this position well that is a missed shot there is escape from that
position and he escapes. The great escape, some might say, but NAF,
Jules Barrett is coming out, he's gonna go for a gunslinging play, he's taking
snacks out and then Elise hops in on him. So much stronger in this B-palm site now
and they're not gonna let attack 9 get through again. Yeah, lovely work. Good job
from NAF with his triple kill. Snaps back into shape, so snacks calling for one
an eco. Pistols coming back in, deagles across the board for game religion.
And as it'll do at least for now, good support from Malaysia over towards short, so the two of them work in
in tandem to make sure that that B-bomb site isn't a weakness that game religion can exploit again.
Ultimate in middle with the Opshuhay chiming in as well, little piece of aggression, there's no
presence whatsoever from game religion at the moment.
Oh, the smoke, close the window, she was just going to peek because of that.
This T side for game religion feeling, you know, equally kind of lackluster at the moment.
Oh yeah, very much so.
I feel like both teams have played this T side so much within like the strategic system
and game plan that I haven't really seen like individuals kind of break out of it and make
some plays and kind of have their own intuition and their own aggressive move that they want
to make. Everyone happy to kind of just contain with how the IGLs and how the captains want
to call tactically.
Malbs and Covey. Ultimate back at ticket with an AWP. Shuhei playing jungle. No presence
and middle from game religion all the attackers coming from rampant palace
wall smokes out towards stairs and connects game religion trying to get out but mom's in a good
spot all of a sudden though it's attack nine it's a deagle entering the kill feed and that bomb
plant now coming through for game religion is this going to be the round they close out mirage with
It's going to be one and loss on the CT retake.
Shuhei and Elise realigning Naph with an AWP.
He's got one flashbang activated.
Towson's going to get a wide angle.
Yeah, he's going aggressive towards CT.
Towson now, it's a shot.
He's got the other one, too.
And it's just Naph.
1v3, it isn't going to be happening for him here.
Towson backs away just to confirm it.
Misses the shot, but he's got so many teammates.
Naph throws himself in, but Snacks is the man
to find it close things out.
A 13-9 win for Game of Legion.
Such a strong first half.
And as Team Liquid's map pick going against it.
Well, can you believe how you lose it as well in that kind of a fashion?
One heartbreaking tech non-lost to Reza's entries of the B-Bomb site.
Now you lose a low-econ round two at A-Exec.
That's a brutal way to lose, and Liquid's going to have to bounce back on map two.
As it ended up being not just one, but two low-econ rounds to be closing this one out,
full game of legion credit where credit is due.
Liquid really trying to make the comeback a reality.
But Jacob, you coined a certain term.
Did you feel like this was a cosmetic comeback from Liquid?
I think it was realistic for them to come back in this game.
Obviously not when you lose two of those rounds.
That's one too many at the very least.
Some would argue two too many, but I think on the CT side, they stepped it up a little bit.
We saw more and more come out from Malf, we saw more and more come out from Elise.
I think the way they were contesting Mid as well, Mid round, was pretty well
and pretty good for Team Liquid.
So they were definitely signs that CT side wise on Mirage, they could play counter strike.
The problem for Liquid was that they had such an abysmal start to the game
with only two T side rounds that the cushion they had to fall back on was non-existent.
So in that regard, it wasn't really in doubt that the game of League were going to win this game,
but I suspected Liquid would have made it much, much closer with three or four T rounds.
I guess it was the fashion. They did it right.
Like you look decent when the game of League didn't come out, you with four buys, and then those two rounds.
It's like that's two out of the three that the game of League won.
Yeah, Jason described it as brutal. I would describe it as liquid, you know, like that's what you come to expect.
Unfortunately, at this point in time, they just can't string together a good map.
Like, it's always something different.
This time, it was the half-pies in the second half.
They lost a 5-0-3 in the first gun round in the first half.
In a different situation, it would be rounds with advantages.
It would be losing both pistols, perhaps, right?
From game to game, there's a different sort of breakdown for the team,
and that's why they've been struggling so much recently.
Should we go back to that first half then? Obviously, T side issue is apparent for Liquid.
What are you gleaned from Gamer Legion and R&B?
Yeah, I think this is just an example for Gamer Legion, right?
And what they were able to do in the first half, you can see that it's a reset round,
5-2 for Gamer Legion, right?
The Legion is just drawing attention to himself.
They're faking a default and they want to pop A, right?
But the Flash is...
You know, PR is going to be in the open on A.
Like, he's not hiding behind anything and there's no Flash that blinds him,
which is kind of wild because considering how open he is,
he needs to get blind here.
One catches him, but they can't scale.
You can see the rest that are flying over stairs.
Like none of that blinds him.
So he gets an easy multi-kill, three kills there.
He's gonna get one more and then it's just going to be Naph
alone trying to save.
Snacks finds him in the end.
So it's sort of, you can't necessarily put it
on the execute too much,
but it's not coordinated as much with the scaling.
He's the lone defender there, so the round sort of works, right?
Like he's isolated, you're going there with four players
and he's just able to mow you down like that in a really important round.
Yeah, you know, and then they change the way they approach it.
Instead of going for these more simplistic executes,
with one man trying to take attention in the middle,
in round nine they try to play out the mid-round game,
they try to spread out the defense a little bit thin,
but even in scenarios like that,
game leading were able to dismantle them.
Round nine, to me, was a great example of Liquid just now
having no foothold in this game whatsoever. Again at this point it's 6-2, you need to
win rounds now, you need to get on the board. Malphz is so searching by himself down there
towards ramp, gets an opening kill which was a theme in this game, Liquid won the opening
kill department 13-9, so in terms of not converting, talks and finds himself with a minute left,
this is the B anchor. That's the B anchor by the way, so no presence whatsoever, then
Hypix catches off a guy in connector, catches another player right here, Malfly left to
himself right, you're just being picked apart one by one by one and you're allowing the
opposition to be inside your own spawn with a minute left of the round without even knowing that's
a possibility. You saw the player on A right there getting ready with grenades, having no clue
whatsoever that there's even the potential of a player flanking him. So in terms of the lack of
synergy, in terms of lack of team play that we're describing Liquid with coming into the game,
I think this round was a great example of exactly that. Yeah and for Tauson to be there at the one
minute mark, I mean he sat in the smoke at 135 and pushed B apps right there and there. I don't
I don't know if it's because it was Malibus who died and the new NAF was probably also
towards A and then he sort of figured, all right, this is their heavy A default, right?
And it's a good timing for me to go for this play.
But yeah, definitely game religion playing to win.
They made a lot of smart decisions.
Even in the second round that they lost on their own CT side, they sort of gambled.
They went for A in the late round, you know, Liquid went B and they just saved.
Their money wasn't great in that round.
If they, let's say, lost it but lost the guns too, they probably had to equal.
So understanding the economy, when it's okay to go for some of these gambles, when you
need to maybe just play default was what allowed them to just have a buy after buy and be able
to win 10 rounds and 60.
But that's the thing, you go into the second half and even when they don't have an ideal
buy, we'll go into the first example of this, Jacob.
Round 19, Rez, do and work with the tech knife.
Yeah, it's obviously a nice buy by Rez.
finds a good timing right here to sneak past him. Again, Naflaik gets caught off guard.
Take nine again. At this point, sure, you can still stabilize the second kill on towards
Elise. That's great from Ress, and then Torsten comes in from catwalk. Melts is trying to
even out the round right here, makes it a 3v3. Ress gets caught off guard by Shure as well,
and then this is what's weird for me. You know, Ultimate standing here with the AWP.
I don't know why he takes an angle where he's not hitting the shot. I don't know why he's
that scared of having a more open angle when you're going up against take nine, you're
going up against pistols. He gets shot down by taking the reflight. Then Shure walks out
by himself as well, get shot down and they end up losing the round.
To me it's a classic, liquid way of doing things.
At no point should they be in danger.
At no point should this be around going the way of Gamer Legion.
Credit to PR again having a massive round right here.
You saw the round Janko put out there, he had a triple kill on the A-bomb side.
This round he had a triple kill, he finished with Tim kills in the game and he went two
for 10 in opening duels as well.
He didn't have a lot of impact outside of these two rounds where he single handedly
won them by himself.
Yeah, and I think, first, you know, it's a naffy, conscious as the BIA, you know, you can't let that happen and dying such a poor way.
But honestly, what Ultimate does in the 3v2 is even worse, right?
And that's the problem, you know, those lapses and better it's judgment or just some brain fog at the worst possible moment is what keeps happening to Team Liquid.
And it's causing him to lose games in another series where they lose their own map pick and now have to find a way to bounce back.
Yeah, 100%. I mean, speaking of shots on the other side of things, though,
I'm gonna roll a Snacks package. Why don't we?
It's not often we praise him for his fraginability, but...
No, it's good to see him in the first half.
You know, Snacks had a field day, found a lot of impact.
Great calling as well, the way that he was controlling the team
and making sure that he found impact from the beginning of the game as well.
And I think that's another carrier to this Liquid loss.
As I said, the 1-13-9 in the openly killed department in this game,
PR had a nightmare in that specific department.
He went 2 for 10.
Rest didn't have too much impact either from an individual output.
Get game on Legion looked like the better team throughout the entire day of the game.
Snacks stepped up.
You have Hypex having a great game as well.
So it came from a lot of different directions in game on Legion.
But if I were to describe you a way for Liquid to win this game, I'd say,
okay, if Rest is not having a great game, if PR is not successful whatsoever in opening kills,
then I'm leading towards Team Liquid winning this game.
But that even isn't enough for them to come close.
Take down Mapec.
I guess it's hard when, okay, you've got Snacks firing off like that,
but then you serve high-packs as well, where he had a lot of impactful moments.
Yeah, definitely. In the first half, I had a lot of good rounds,
but I just can't shake this feeling off where Liquid would probably come back all the way.
They seemed in full control if it weren't for those two rounds against pistols,
and you can't keep letting those rounds slip really for you.
Stacks did a great job in terms of the fragging.
T-Side was a bit of a struggle in the second half, but they were able to get it done.
And for Hypex, we're seeing a couple of series now.
He's finally finding some consistency.
The casters talked about coming into the game of legion as an offer,
seeing as how your predecessors did.
I mean, you don't want to be just another name on that list.
And definitely the pressure was getting to him.
It felt like initially, and maybe after the roster changes,
or after he saw that he wasn't going to get kicked after two months,
he's able to let loose somewhat and have a better performance.
I'm making a little bit of a grimace because I'm just looking at the stats for liquids.
I was looking for silver lining.
I'm going to be honest, there really isn't one.
This is a five map lost streak liquid.
I was going to say it's against teams pretty much below GamerLegion as well.
Like, it feels either it kind of does.
You know, Nuke has been a strong as a map for Team Liquid,
haven't been able to integrate maps into it, haven't been able to find any sort
the results and as you said like when I look at the list of teams they're losing
to Sashi, Haru, Alliance you know the beta team called OleBet I think apart from that
no big wins whatsoever for Team Liquid. You don't even have a lineup right now.
You don't even have a lineup at the moment you know and it was a close game as well.
So to be completely honest no there's not a big silver lining for Team Liquid.
If anything they showed yesterday that they were able to bounce back after
losing the map to M80 but I'm grasping for a straw right here. I have not seen
anything from Liquid at this tournament that makes me believe that they're much
bit off than they were a couple of weeks ago in Vio and Vio was bad.
And we also saw GamerLegion with two faces yesterday against Navi to some extent.
So that's the thing.
We hear it from players from all tiers of teams say the same thing.
It's like in MR12 and in the current environment, you can lose to anyone pretty much and you
can beat anyone.
I think they go wrong so fast if you lose one or two key rounds and you know GamerLegion
is not a bad team but I don't consider them a world beater that they can't make mistakes
and then, you know, things can't go horribly wrong.
It sort of started going horribly wrong in the second half of Mirage.
And here they'll have to start on the T side again.
So I think there's a way in for Liquid.
They just keep playing kind of the same way on the CT side,
but just slightly better discipline
and then being more concentrated in these rounds against pistols.
You know, a strong CT side can propel them into a map win.
We've got to see exactly how it is going to be going down.
But not before we head things to a quick break.
When we return, it's going to be Nuke, the map pick of Game of Legion
and potentially last chance to loon here for Team Liquid at the Intel Extreme Masters at Lancelot 2026.
I've got a big one today versus Gamer Legion.
we're just gonna start all encompassing here with team liquid you've been on this roster
for about fifty years now so tell me a little about the ups and downs because currently things
are the way they are. Yeah, I mean obviously the past couple years have been a lot of ups
and downs but you know recently it's been pretty much been pretty bad for the most part
but you know at the end of the day we're trying our best so you know to get out of whatever
that we're in right now so yeah. Yeah, so being that you've seen so much kind of strike
in your day. You know, every time you go to rebuild or every time you guys go through
the motions of rebuilding, what does that like? What does it look like?
I don't know. It's meeting a lot of cool different people, you know. The people just
come and go sometimes, you know, but yeah, I don't know. I mean, you know, played with
a lot of different players. Yeah, so I have no idea how to even say it.
Yeah, it's a variety. It's a variety pack of players that Team Liquid has had over the
course of...
I've had a lot of friends.
you absolutely have. You've got a lot of successes too in your career, Keith. You guys today aren't
coming into this one necessarily where you want to in terms of stature of team liquid.
So let's kind of go over how this might look in the server with Gamer Legion.
Yeah, I mean, obviously, I think Gamer Legion is a pretty solid team. I would say they're a pretty,
you know, decent team. But I don't know, we just always seem to come out showing our best A game
because with our current games and how we've been playing, it's not been good. So we just got to
look for the man upstairs see if he's watching up there watching down on us and
maybe you can send us some blessings stay blessed Keith stay blessed stay
blessed everybody
Once you short. I can flash inside palace.
As long as I'm ready. Wait, wait. I'm in laterano.
Flashing now. I have ramp, I'm out.
Upstead. That's a player. He was flying around here.
I'll see him. I'm only around.
I'm under window. I'm hitting it. He's dead, he's dead.
I'm sucking out the short. Dead.
Last guy is a pack player as well.
There's a window. Under window.
Nice!
I'll second off.
Good shit.
Come round.
Ticket!
I'm sandwiched.
Ticket dead.
King is flashed.
Take CT boys, take CT.
Nothing.
One more.
I think there is a bench.
I'm all in CT.
Yellow, push up the left.
I'm gonna switch to the right.
Take CT for me.
Yeah, I'm trying it.
Don't see a car.
I can't hold it deep like this.
I'm gonna switch to the right.
I'll find this.
I have second off alive.
Maybe one is flying.
Nice!
That's the thing from the triangle.
Make me more.
One down.
Nice, one down flashed.
One flash, one flash, I'm peeking.
I'm peeking you.
Oper, operator.
That's fine.
I'll take the truck.
I'm behind you.
Peek at me, boss, peek at me.
I'm peeking you.
Nice.
Let's go.
Welcome back to the Intel Extreme Masters Atlanta 2026.
It is the last day of the group stages and all the teams today fighting for survival in the competition.
Team Liquid one map down and obviously they have hopes to get into the arena as a North American team
But right now they're looking down and now as we move into new game and Luton's map pick the odds are completely stacked against Team Liquid
Yeah, good to have to see I mean just an axe and actually bigger fight than what we saw on Mirage
Especially in that first half
I like the point that Yankee made because you and I kind of discussed it briefly as well between the maps for it felt like
Liquid had a comeback brewing they had that half like you know
So they're feeling like they're starting to gain control and starting to feel really comfortable, but again, it's like it doesn't matter how good you look in those moments if you're going to lose two tech nines, if you're going to lose the map to deagles and upgraded pistols instead of against rifles, just way too many rounds where the ball gets dropped completely.
So Liquid CT side here on Nuke, they need to be just absolutely damn perfect. Get some belief back within this team, get some energy and some focus back within this team, because Game Religion is coming for you.
coming to knock you out of Atlanta and nuke begins
two smokes and flashing a molotov for the gamer legion attack on this pistol
PR's got a P250 with which to challenge outside
and it's all five players following him up
it's real quiet outside
now the utile arrives
you got a leech
in the wings down towards Seeker. There's a gap designed to try and fight and
now Aalish has to fall away trying to get back.
Get the jewelies out, his teammates dropping down, you get that thought in the
event, hoping your teammate can step up in your stead. Aalish gets the final kill for
Tech and then the Modo comes in from Malves. That's exactly what Malves was
hoping to do when he dropped in on that rotation and that now looks like the
pistol for Team Liquid. It feels like Aalish was taking that fight like a little
bit too early, setting his ground in a bad position, but setting his ground there
getting his one kill bot time for mobs to be in position for NAF to be down there as
well with the USP. Those two combined with that crossfire to set up mobs as quad kill.
And make sure that pistol round goes absolutely nowhere. Game religion gets stuffed down in
secret. The one and nothing start for Team Liquid.
Get done with this. Game religion kind of gather themselves, start to move forward next, but
Now for Mobs, all the stopping power in the world.
Nice!
Nice buddy, well that fucking goes!
Oh.
A little frustration there from highpacks to kick off the pistol, but...
A moment to chill out here, because game religion only have a D-Golf.
No, there's no moments to chill out.
You don't get to chill out right now, not after the first map performance.
Every round has got to feel like a gun round.
I'm talking about game religion.
Oh, I thought you were talking about liquid, okay.
Yeah, game religion can chill.
Yeah, I'm saying high-pitched.
My apologies, that was a little...
I know, you were fighting hard, didn't I?
You're fighting about liquid, Jason. How do I get it?
I mean, it's a lanter.
I'm fired up in anger. I don't like seeing...
I mean, any team, it's not even just liquid,
but I mean, I just hate watching those rounds be the ones that are lost
that prevent you from having a good have,
but you know, it's just like, what are we doing here?
We're going to be alright this time, surely.
There's Elise coming in to get two, Shuei on the other, and then Ultimate taking that final kill.
Yeah, taking some damage on board, but yeah, that third kill would have been really painful to take,
would have been very costly in the round. So AK-47's coming in now for Gamer Legion,
get the first gun round underway, M4 is filling the feed of Team Liquid,
going to be a minute before we see that allp out for Ultimate,
and for Hypex on the other side of things. But Gamer Legion going to show us their first
Look at the game plan on this T-side of Nuke. It's Gamer Legion's map pick.
And they're already up by one in this series.
pulse are too long because you've thrown two smokes outside no one's gonna play
with him and Elise is gathering information once those fade away so
here they come trying to get out the side snacks go a little bit early ahead
of his teammates and now they've been blocked at ramp. I think snacks like took
the step they wanted to take the risk because he was looking into the bomb
site and saw nothing okay they're gonna challenge on the other side of the smoke
NAF with one traded immediately. Yeah good trade from PR at least keeps this round alive
for a game of Legion. Isn't the greatest round so far on their T side? You've got a
rotation down to a bomb site. Yep, Shuei waiting at the back of the site. He's going to peak out on a good time and catch
highpacks. His teammates can start to rotate in. Shuei's going to create a jump here. It's just
rise tapping and tapping and not getting anything. So some celebrations that seem liquidated to 3-0 start.
They've handled the first gun round as well. I couldn't ask for it to be a more comfortable start as well.
I don't think losing one player in that first gun round, you lost the two in the second round of the pistols,
but you can let that one slide for now because money is going to keep growing. And for
for GamerLegion, no access into the bomb site, no plants in any of these three rounds,
and getting negated here.
It looks kind of silly watching snacks, I kind of walk out of 5v5 as the opening play.
I think he just really just thought that was a good risk to take, like maybe he found the
gap where nobody was looking for it, because he saw somebody in the upper bomb site, punish
and then shut down towards the lower site.
Well, on this American run, Game of Legion had played Nuke twice. They played it once in a while, and once here in Atlanta. Both were wins.
This is the third time playing it, and I now have an Abrol with Tecnaise. It's going forward, and Snax is taking two.
So this round is actually on. They've got two rifles to work with all of a sudden for Game of Legion.
Shouldn't be too much danger for Team Liquid unless they make some kind of a crazy mistake.
Crazy mistake, maybe over pushing, overextending to try and regain ramp.
Elysian has tucked himself in, I'm pretty sure rest is off earlier though.
Crouches into the fight, Elysian out dinked and they might actually come for this.
They might actually be aggressive on this position, so Elysian bails out before they can spam the smoke.
It feels like Liquid should have all the advantages, right?
You know you have them contained in ramp room, you know that's where they're at at the moment.
They're not able to progress into the bomb site, you know it's a low buy as well, so resource is going to be a little bit low.
But that dink from Elysian, look how passive he's forced, so far out of the round.
If they don't come and wrap towards heaven, how's he going to get back into a retake?
This is all on Shuhei, essentially a 1v3.
He's on notice, he's getting ready for this.
Rez is walking up, Shuhei had shown Rez taken away, but he took a dink, oh boy, 10 HP, cleared
up on attack, no, better weapon now available for Towson as they go for the plant, and they've
got the smoke for the cover.
The plant is through, Snax is holding, for anybody who's coming down the ramp, but in
fact both remaining Team Liquid players are coming down ramp.
This is going to be a heads up fight and Snax will lose it, putting it all on Towson.
But will they expect him to be here, standing right here?
Got a bit of leash, there's a low HP out first, Towson up against Malbs, sprained away and
Towson's won it!
Game of Legends should not have won this round, but they're tech 9 early from Snax and Towson
on the close.
A hard break in round to let's slide that for Team Liquid.
Yeah, I mean that's gotta be so frustrating.
You almost see a little bit of Flashy's face there too,
because you'll know that would be a constant conversation.
How you play against low buys, how you play against anti-ecos,
how you deal with different situations against pistols.
That's a constant conversation
that every team always feels they can improve upon.
So when that's the dagger that caused you to lose
and prevent your comeback on the first map,
now that it happens again early on in the second one,
it's just real painful.
Oh, it's quick here from Talcet.
into the next round, using the AK to devastating his back to Gat against Team Liquid.
Rez and Talsun with two openers.
There's the pace change here from GamerLegion just swinging out and getting into the roundway.
Yeah, it's one of the Snacks' favorite ways to call that intuition, that feeling of the game.
What an uppercut provided.
Liquid not ready at all for the swing out of Hot 2.
Opening kills provided by Rez and provided by Talsun.
In the game, the round is over already at that point.
You've got to save the AWP and the right fall, that's where they go.
Back track E. Ultimate stuck in ramp room at the moment.
Second round here for K-Milejian and the T side starts to get going.
When this next round, you've got some leg room to really grow this T side.
Yeah, it's going to all be about liquid.
I mean, you're going to see this up in this M4 held for Ultimate Aleige.
What can they do with it?
I mean, Liquid, they could go for an aggressive decision,
although that would risk a lot of economy very early on in this half.
They could put him in a hole, you could get some MP9,
some FAMAS passed around if you really wanted to challenge a little bit more.
I don't think it's likely.
I think they'll be content with the AWP in the M4.
Much like Mirage, but like, I mean, those first gun rounds on the CT side here
on Nuclear, good for Team Liquid.
The first three-round stretch, and all of a sudden, it falls apart.
So how much can Gamer League get off that return?
P.R. all into the vent he goes. Good position to have early in the round.
Look what's going to boost up over towards Ramp Room. That's going to be NAF up on top
of the boxes. So ultimate with his AAPP can be very mobile. Try and read the map. Try
and read what's coming. You might eventually, considering P.R.'s dropped in towards Vents,
The next idea generally for the T side is find a way to get the other side of that attack to the lower bombsite to the ramp room or secret.
So it might be a little bit of a pump fake with utility towards the upper bombsite, get somebody to cheat, create some chaos for PR to open the door and start moving towards ramp for a backstab.
And no one from Team Liquid even considering it, good information provided by Alish.
But still nobody checking and nobody considering lower and this is going to be really really painful.
OPR, the early play to get into the event.
It's going to be devastating. There's his first target.
Just trying to see if he can get more, but...
He won't see the boost actually. He hasn't seen it. NAF can actually do work here.
Ooh, they're just gonna run in nice, outpicking is clear and Nath only getting the one.
Good quick reaction, but it slows it down.
It's subtracted long enough for Elise to come in and make the difference.
And now it's just PR.
Oldest left here for Game of Leeching.
Now, it's not done, but there's only 25 seconds left.
And Elise can just hide. He can cover that ball.
He can make this very difficult for PR.
And he's even got mobs coming to join in. They're both up together.
PR took it.
Oh, no, it's a letter to the guy!
No!
The only way to win in PR gets them on the line up.
Liquid, let him have it!
Mental mistakes from Team Liquid.
Time and time again in this series so far, preventing them from even getting started.
Oh, that is just one of those mental shattering rounds.
Did they think that he picked up the bomb?
They couldn't have thought that he picked up the bomb.
He's looking at the bomb.
I'm just thinking maybe he thought it might have dropped onto the ramp and he picked it up inside the smoke
I'm trying to think of the reason the replay both players kind of go through the narrowest choke point possible lined up as well
What a disaster and you get a look you get so many things going your way
He doesn't even be doesn't it see naf never clears them naf goes one for one here
This is lovely from a lesion the rotation over
Well, with the time running down, you don't need to be the aggressor.
He's got to pick up the bomb.
He's got to run back to the bomb site.
Oh, they could know the round they've just lost.
Do they have it in them to bounce back mentally from that?
They're just going to try and bring the hurt here.
Game Alizia is in speed towards the side.
P.R. at this time, going to be handled by Shuhei.
Trades from Taliesin, snacks in again.
Layer upon layer of attack.
The defense is matched up against it at least for now,
but Taliesin's coming in, it's all on Naph.
And 1v2, he must win.
And now they fight him together and he's close to it,
but Taliesin edges it out.
A quick round from Game Alizia,
rushing into the upper bomb site,
trading back and forth and eventually coming out on top.
Yeah, I know that round is close.
it ends up getting into a 1v1 and it's a little bit brawly and probably a couple different
times it could have gone either way, but I like that snacks is keeping up this kind
of like chaotic pressure, right? Never letting liquid settle down, never letting them feel
like they're comfortable, like kind of opening around slow with the sense that they know
what's coming and how to handle it, changing cases, giving you fast looks, giving you fakes,
just maintaining the sense for Team Liquid that they're always going to be uncomfortable.
He's outside MP7, smoke slightly broken, he's gonna hear those steps to the right cross now to a secret.
He's trying to catch them, versus God, getting a new thing else is going to be too difficult for Elise.
He does a lot of damage onto another player, but eventually taken down by Taliesin.
I'm also spawning and upgrading into an AK.
I mean, you feel now like this liquid, even with this lower body, you have to feel like this is kind of a must-win position,
considering the way some of these recent rounds have played out.
Four on three, mobs has recovered in AK-47.
You've got three players downstairs
gonna start pushing towards secret.
So they'll leave their meat here on the stairs,
or they'll be able to have a nice fast flank.
Oh, hi pecs, that's bomb.
Stash on into the fight, yeah, bomb dropped, but they clean up the rest and they pick up the bombs.
So just mobs left. It's a winnable clutch for mobs.
He's a little bit too far behind as the problem, and he can't really pick up the pace whatsoever.
They'll hear him coming. If they go up the vents as well, they've just completely negated his position,
but indeed they stick around. Hypex is ready! The whole time!
Two round lead now for Gamer Legion.
Even when the rounds get messy, they're able to pull it through here, Game of Legion.
Think now it's an interesting conversation for Game of Legion.
That round, I think, with the chaotic nature, might have gotten a little bit away from them.
Now you're starting to see some individuals push through some smokes, through some aggressive
stances, even though they come out on top and put them in a difficult spot.
There might be time during this time out to kind of rein him in a little bit in this conversation.
He liked the aggressive calling from Snacks, the pace changes, the variety of looks he's giving this team liquid defense.
Maybe rein it in before it gets too disorganized.
Ali is able to do great damage after this.
This is the play I'm speaking of, coming through the smoke from Rez, challenging like that.
A little bit too much freedom in that scenario, but it's Hypex to save the day at the end.
We're covering the bomb, eliminating Liquid on the secret stairs, and we go into round
nine.
Five rounds so far on a T side of Nuke where you don't win the pistol.
Shuhei is able to do damage to Snacks who ends up dying to his own Molotov, so an advantage
for Liquid.
One G. And now we've got Ultimate making the most of it.
So that's PR and Rai's both going down, and we got Team Liquid a lot stronger this time.
at least holding back some of that aggressive nature.
And, yeah, there we go, a bit of despair down there.
Ah, it's good to see the ultimate gather a couple of kills like that with the AWP.
Obviously going to make Liquid feel much more comfortable if the AWP can start ringing out.
Another round it looks like on this ET side, they can have a pretty clean victory.
As Talcind and Hypex back off for the moment, it would be a very long save.
They've got a ton of cash.
And you know Team Liquid's just kind of bought back up into this as you beat him, so you
could kind of go work the map and see if you can grab one or two kills during this minute
and find a way to do it safely, but more than happy to just take the round loss 5-4 and
keep the AK-47s in the money in a healthy place.
So 5-4.
I don't know, it's kind of it. Just due to the nature of how this is all played out, it's
like it's hard to start getting that confidence. Like when you see rounds like this, you're
like, alright, it could happen on Mirage too, like Liquid's defense snapping into place,
but you know there's another heartbreak coming.
That's the motto of Jep Liquid.
You know there's one other stupid round loss that's coming around the corner, you just,
you can't get comfy yet.
I watched a couple Liquid games chasing her.
You know, change you as a human.
Well, they can be happy for now. You know, another round picks up.
Already five T-Rounds though for Gamelitch.
Oh yeah, they're in a sick place. They've done this very, very well.
Everything they get from here is just kind of bonus. Just a little bit extra on top.
Three more rounds remaining in this half.
So Team Liquid taking no losses, replenish the utility, pick up some kits, both teams should be okay with the economic situation the way it is.
We're starting getting down to some weaker situations.
Round ten, AWP in the hands of Ultimates, AWP in the hands of Hypex as well.
He'll take that on top, silo outside, ultimate and big garage.
oh my lord get out of there okay he made it away just about he made it away it
is fun isn't it we're all in with the risk we got a leash playing secret
decent position to have early in the round what can he hope to do with it
the snacks finds this time waiting for those smokes to erupt outside he's not
gonna move forward just yet he's letting Red growl and Red has been spotted
tapped away by Lige, an advantage now siding with Team Liquid.
Alright, we're going to head over to NAF's position. Three players heading in, all up to keep him pinned down.
Utility heading his direction, and NAF just decides to give it up.
Man advantage, doesn't need to stand in fight whatsoever.
And a very proactive move by Shuhei to take a risk through the smoke.
Malves takes the bullet, probably meant for Shuhei, but it sells Shuhei's position.
Snacks thinks he's stopped the door pushing aggression and Shuey gets a lie in wait.
A lie in a way he is.
Here they come, right in towards him.
Got a chance for a multi-kill just the once.
The game will lead you to survive.
They slip out onto the A site.
There's no one here.
No one home.
No one watching.
Yeah, they shipped a two to the lower bomb site so there's no one to actually recover
the scenario.
Yeah, well, uh-oh.
Retake required.
And a long way off, getting into position where that looks possible.
You've got three kits to work with.
You've got two smokes and flashbangs as well if your team liquid.
The biggest problem is going to be Ultimate. It won't be too motivated to get into the
fight unless you can open up this flank or kill from Elise. Now Ultimate can step forward.
Hypex stepping into the lobby misses the shots and at least gets some information because
back into Ultimate who's winning so it's Towson again tasked with a clutch. He can't win it.
And Team Liquid do come back in on that retake. Gaming Legion, you're going to want to play
that post plant again if they could. And that's going to be a 5-5. Team Liquid tying things
up. Yeah, that looked real clean from Team Liquid on the retake. Powered by Elise. Nice
opening kill to allow everyone to activate. Ultimate slides into position to punish the
fallback from Hutt, lovely place for him to be, picks off Hypex, and Taliesin can't do
anything in a 1v3. But this was the must kill from Elise to actually activate this and make
this retake possible for Team Liquid. Everybody gets one and the three on three, and we're
tied at five.
Yeah, I don't want to be a mafia.
Members, well, there's a deeper, bigger goal for Team Liquid, made it somehow miraculously
into the major.
Well, they purchased mobs, or they moved him to the C.
I was going to try and be nice about it, but yeah, they're in the major, and clearly a
lot of improvements that need to be made, and not a whole lot of time in which to get
They're going for the smoke as they're trying to cross over at Shuey with one, but then
the response is swift from Taliesin.
Swifter still from Ultimate.
Alright, but they're going to turn in towards Midi, it looks like, and Shuey's just dropped
on Vence.
Malph is in trouble.
Malph says no idea this is coming, an easy kill for Taliesin, and once again, no one in
the upper bomb site, the rotation just occurred.
They're actually waiting for the Heaven Peak.
They're pausing the waiting.
Taliesin is trying to stop Ultimate from even putting his head over the top, and Ultimate
realizes how important his life is at this point so you can't repeat so you do
now you're so pressured towards heaven that you're locked out of that spot and
you want someone else to step in and take some of the contact to free up that
heaven play a little bit later in the round she way uncomfortable climbing up
the fence tells us waiting spotting for the cross and this time in the post
plan from the A site it is much stronger in the 3v3 from gamer legion it's 6 to 5
on this T side it's already fantastic yeah back to back rounds team liquid is
incorrectly read that the finishing move for Gamer Legion was going to be to the
lower bomb site and they just keep moving on in towards upper back to
backgrounds it's been kind of free in the mid-round 3v3 some lovely kills
outside but I mean just because of the cross because of the spam because of the
the spam coming back Liquid just assumed all three players went down secret
instead of turning making the audible to Mini up into the upper bomb site
completely caught off guard final round of the first half Liquid looking to
tie things up at six
oh willy he's up first
you know this time res is not going to fall for that
we just got him earlier from secret and sent snacks into trying to deal with him
but lege wins that gunfight
so opening kill in favor of team liquid
Just look like they're going to come quicker again here, Team Allegiance, towards the A site.
I might just stall it out because of the smoke.
PR's going to walk it, yep, steps through.
PR's out, spotted by Shuei, gets away with both.
And surely no way you drop this one, it's just Rize now, 1v5.
Team Linkin will pick up an extra round to play with in the first half and leave at a tied scoreline.
Yeah, well that's at least what they're going to be able to get.
I mean, it's another one of those halves where it feels like there's been
then some glimpses that this defense could have been much stronger but some
just very silly rounds dropped that prevent liquid from having a stronger CT
side.
So gamer legion
in the other side of the coin a great half for the offensive gamer legion
without the pistol still putting six rounds on the board breaking liquid
early on in the half and being able to take advantage of that situation
a stretch of five rounds in a row for gamer legion some important clutches one
during that stretch as well.
We'll make a very tough second half for both teams going into the break, six to six.
Losing team is eliminated and it's liquid with their backs against the wall.
I need that too, I want you better
I want it to you, I want you better
I need that too, I need it too
I
One last chance for survival. Team Liquid have mapped out and now they switch over to the
T side of Nuke, a tie game 6-6. In classic Liquid fashion that first have littered with
heartbreaking moments, head scratchers, but they've got to pull it all together and somehow come back into this game, get their heads into fight and stay alive here in Atlanta.
I think the bummer for Team Liquid is on the other side of the server, you've got a team progressing and improving at a rate that you wish you could pull off.
Snax been in the game religion squad for five months since his return, Hypex, seven months, and in that time they've racked up some very, very impressive upsets.
Impressive upsets, some nice scalps on the resume of their recent tournament runs.
And looking to add another one of Team Liquid under the mix.
And move on to see if they can make the playoffs one step closer to the playoffs of IEM Atlanta
if they can close out this nuke on the CT side.
Lurk smoke over towards Squeak Door.
Liquid is going to progress behind it.
Molotov towards top hut.
KDAL bomb drops into the Vance here for Team Liquid.
players now populating the lowest site and no one on the CT side is rotated here to deal with it yet.
And two lurkers in place, one outside that's NAF, okay he's been spotted, takes that engagement,
nice gush under res, one more lurk over towards squeak door that's Shuhei.
Holmes moving up step gonna be heard and he looks out to the right side PR puts one between the eyes
more pressure and a leash but high pack same results as he steps in here for game alleging
the 5v3 on the retake coming down the van to hear that tap on the defuse it's not going to be the full
stake but he's going to create the pressure for team liquid as though it's there but they're
going to swing open the double tour he's going to try and deny his shoey but that stake is
being held halfway gone can't get to it now stuck behind the door snacks is just crawling
in and that's exactly what snacks does best. Denies access to the site and team liquid
have to look as that defuse happens. That's the coolest thing snacks could have done in
that situation that is just the coolest thing he could have done. I love everything about
It is this Max plays the whole small either what a legend I mean this this
Yeah, this is one of those pisterons are like it's an interesting tactic. No leaving to the end of this door stuff door stuff
Just too many players downstairs after the bomb plant die for team liquid before the lurkers are meant to like there
There's a period where those lurkers despite the bomb being planted are meant to have the impact of kills as the CTs rotate for into for the retake
But everyone dies in the site before the lurkers have a chance to pounce.
Now, you know, look at all that conversation, is the lurker playing too slow?
Is it just silly death being taken downstairs?
But when that happens, that kind of a strategy just completely falls apart and looks a little bit silly.
Oh, Snacks on the back.
Leish has the right read. He turns around to try and fight him, but Snacks has just got the better weapon faster to react.
Again, I mean, it's a long time for Leish to sit there with nowhere to really go. It can't go forward, can't go backwards.
Liquid now going to pull the trigger now that he's done, but Leish would have loved to have had that distraction a little bit earlier to give him some space to make a play.
Double straight on from Towson. Res still on top of the hut, so the trade not that big of a deal. No access to the bomb site still.
And it'll be nice and easy
And we'll spend the part of the pregame talking about how res is being stepping up and some decent performances from res
Quiet map here. I'm sure he'll start to come into his own on the CT side
Yeah, I mean they also have that luxury like I just kind of touched on with some of those upsets and some of the nice wins
They've had in like isolated series, you know over fury over Astralis over, you know close close against a
Navi the other night now they're beating up on liquid
You have some of those wins
They give you some of the confidence that you're starting to figure out how the team plays and how everyone's playing
It's coming becoming more automatic and more intuition and that was a point
Yaiko brought up that you know about team liquid before the series began of saying they need a win
They just need confidence because you can see it in their play
It's palpable that this team just doesn't have confidence that they're actually going to be able to take the win
And that's that's why you need to start getting some of those under your belt
So that belief actually clicks and sticks into the team from game to game and series to series
I think that just draws the parallel to what you mentioned earlier about the fact that team liquor wish they could get on track with
The progression that we're seeing from game leech and where it's the opposite right for them
They are getting confidence because they are starting to get some of those wins under their belts some unexpected victories
And we're talking about high pecs as the offer in the team
Starts a just get more of an attitude more confidence and we're starting to see him really start to show the flare
He showed in his previous teams
A timeout for Liquid. Second beam burn. Flashy get on the mic.
He's going to try and save this mission otherwise Team Liquid are eliminated.
Yeah, I mean I think too it's just probably important for just the atmosphere within the team.
We just had that conversation about belief and about trust and thinking you can actually come back and take this map and force the third.
You come out here and have a flat round out of this timeout and just get deleted.
There's no way that faith is getting built up.
I mean, I know there's still time for Liquid to come back if they were to lose this, but this one feels very very critical
That liquid have an effective round
Off in the hands of Hypex
Plenty of utility only one kit on the CT side
They could they could they have the cash to buy a few more kits are nice to have
I'm not going to let that bomb go down, Jason. That's the thing. That's the mentality.
Plan works great until it doesn't.
Rez stepping towards NAV. Closing out. Yep, aggression pays off. NAV going to be frustrated
by its game elation. Happy to take lobby control. It's not just
stepping into the lobby, it's the rest of the squad coming for the party as well.
How's it going? Oh, and Shuey has utility out, they're still going through with it, they're still going through with it.
Oh! Okay, okay, yep. Shuey wins the Polish battle against Max.
But Lobby still held very well, very very well by Gamer Legion.
This is weird, both teams have changed places. Lobby controlled by the CTs, outside yard,
And now the wraparound to heaven controlled by the T side.
PR is down in secret making sure that the lower bomb site isn't going to be the play of attack.
30 seconds.
Steps being made inside of the site now. Res knows what's up.
Oh, throwing the utility in to make things uncomfortable.
Malph's gonna be planting, but tanking the damage, tanking it and dying.
So he gives his life for the bomb plant.
Elysia's sure he'd now left it A2 before it just can't happen for them.
Oh, Malph's decides to burn to a crisp, and that's a 10th round here for Gamer Legion.
Yeah, I think that's the one.
I think that's actually unfortunate.
I think that's where the liquid just kind of, this one just fades away from here.
Look at the fashion in which they lose this round.
NAF watching for pushes.
Rez is still able to get the advantage on him.
Half his body showing.
NAF never saw him come through.
Fortunate to get away with this kill.
Probably nine out of ten times that goes the other direction.
But then burning in the Molotov during the plant to get that down
makes the retake very, very simple from there.
Four round lead, three away from eliminating Team Liquid in Atlanta.
Oh, oh, uh, Mom's, that is a rough start to the round, getting double-naded off the top
of Silo.
Game release and advantage picked up within seconds.
Breakage of the smoke, high-packs.
Gonna change up his spot.
And let snacks play in and around all of the smokes.
He's got Ryze out secret with him.
Bryce is going to win the engagement against Elise, drop the utility, and fall back himself.
He's ready for the next fight.
NAF chases him down.
Balm's gone as well.
Team Liquid stalling out so quickly here.
Rez is a beast right now.
Look how many kills he's racked up since the start of the second half.
Yeah, he's up very well.
Good pick from Hypex off Shueh's position.
And ultimate, the last one left, 1v3.
Rez waiting at the off angle.
Going to slide into the deeper angle, goes down.
And ultimate, now is the information on PR.
Got the ball picked up again, he's got some time, 50 seconds to work with here for ultimate.
That's the health, that's the issue, isn't it? 23 HP.
Probably unconfirmed, so if he can find a clean shot on the PR, it puts the AWP at a disadvantage.
PR to pick ultimate up.
Yeah, MULP's falling down the back of the silo though.
They can't get anything liquid. Time out taken out of desperation, they're final.
Final for the tournament, perhaps. Five rounds back, yet supposed to round in this second half, five straight for GamerLegend to open this up.
They've been steps ahead of Team Liquid since the start of the first map.
Snack's calling some very good T sides, especially here on Nuke, without a pistol, unable to put six on the board, and that's a hole that Liquid hasn't been able to overcome.
And now, just a matter of closing things out on the CT side of Nuke, Taliesin delivering
you 16 kills, PR at 13.
Cheeky little maid, good catch from the observing team.
And Rez is just piecing what he's needed, which hasn't been too often in this series
in this game, but when he's been called upon, sequences like that.
Looks like they want to turn into it's mini more than anything.
They're going to give it a go.
Getting past the defending players though is going to prove very difficult.
We've got Ryze at CTV, high-packs to be at the alarm system, letting you know what to expect.
Yeah, but this pulls PR back from Ramp Room.
I mean, Liquid won't know that and have no one actually to pressure Ramp,
but PR has actually abdicated that part of the map so that he can help protect this wraparound,
because the AWP is too unwieldy for it.
Naleesh, oh, it's a little bit awkward there for PR, but he still manages to get himself out of the situation.
Nafnaleesh, both dead within a couple of seconds of each other.
Now you've left Shuei, ultimate and Malps in a 3v5.
really good protocols from Gamer Legion as well, leaving no gaps. PR shifts here from
Ramp Room, Snacks shifts from the lower bomb site to Ramp Room to cover that. Good kill
from Ultimate. Still have Snacks over when he's gone back down to the lower bomb site,
so he's going to chill here, which lets Taliesin, Hypex and Rez just play their positions safely.
And Taliesin just waiting below. Flash is the only thing you've got. Taliesin turns from
Flash is the only thing you've got.
Towson turns from it.
Hypex has the first kill, Towson the second,
bomb spills to the ground,
and ultimate marching in will slowly.
With this eagle, they know exactly where he is.
Res collects him, and it is series point for Game of Legion.
But Team Liquid's staring down the barrel of defeat
and elimination.
Yeah, it's the fashion.
The fashion of the elimination, frustrating.
I would imagine more than anything.
Well, to lose both maps without getting to double figures.
I'm just losing Mirage the way you did
to the low buys as well.
So Team Liquid not even going to get close to the playoffs here in Atlanta
Blanked in the second half on Nuke T side never got running two rounds on their T side of Mirage
Unfortunately would never show up to play but for gamer Legion. It's another step forward a player potential playoff birth
They'll be fighting for the next game later on today
They have another good accomplishment to put on the resume as this team continues to improve
and we see cool things continuing to show from the individuals of this team.
Rez with the start to the year he's had.
Hypex getting comfortable in his role as the AWPer of this squad.
PR and Towson just being strong, reliable, rifling pieces.
He's got the follow-up killer here. Team Liquid, it's just Shuei and Mobs. It's a disappointing
day for Team Liquid and NA.
Oh, no. Go down without a fight in this round. At least Shuei, at least pick it up a headshot
for Rez. I realize that. And now down to a 1v1. Snacks against Mobs.
some kind of a sound cue, some kind of a footstep.
And with Snacks could close this for Game of Legion.
He's comfortable in clutches.
That's one of the most elusive players you've ever had.
And he's disappeared.
Nothing but a shadow. You thought you heard a sound,
but now you've got to find him.
Snacks has caught the perfect timing.
Mobs look in the wrong way.
And what a day for Game of Legion.
They've got through the first swim they need on the path to the playoffs.
It's still yet to be seen.
And you know, looking at Team Liquid, it's disappointing.
Disappointing it's a result though. That's not shocking. Team Liquid have been really struggling over recent months in Counter Strike
But today
Eliminated without getting double figures on either map. It's such a disappointing way to go. It's extra bitter Jason
Yeah, it really is it's gonna be another round of painful conversations for Team Liquid
I want to focus more on the game religion
It's not a thing because I mean if you come into this knowing the state liquids in you're gonna be saying let's never let
Them get started and that's kind of pretty much exactly what game religion did really strong performances in the first half
T-side never done anything going.
Shilane Flashy unable to come up with a game plan that could penetrate Gamer Legion's defense.
I mean, that's just the hurt inflicted from round one on Mirage all the way to the end of Nuke.
And Gamer Legion continued to impress.
Yeah, first of the wins required here for Gamer Legion.
They'll move on for the final where they'll play against the winner of the Stralis sinners, which is still going on.
But Gamer Legion have a great shot with the way they're playing to make it into the playoffs.
Another playoffs for Gamer Legion that could be here in the USA.
But for Atlanta, there will not be a North American player present in the playoffs at all Jason. That's it
I was the last they all been taken down like with the other ones are yesterday and I made it and
Today, yeah
So a disappointing day for an A but for game religion happy starts getting through team liquid comfortably and really showing that their level is
Definitely increasing. Yeah. Well, I mean, yeah, there's game religion. The level is increasing for liquid
They've got one last grind one last deep breath and take the plunge into the major
We've got Trace standing by after the series concluded.
Yeah, thank you very much, gentlemen. Thank you very much indeed, obviously for Team Liquid.
This is their way out of Atlanta. I'm here with Shuhei.
Sit right in the middle, watching this one play out. Talk to me about this game in front of you.
Where do I start?
Well, first of all, we've been having an issue of winning our own map pick.
So we're starting off the game very slow every time, and it's difficult to get back into it.
it. It feels like we start to get warmed up towards the second half of the first map,
but that's just not enough. Going into Nuke, I think they had a really good game plan against
our T side, so they countered us here and there. Yeah, overall we didn't perform like
we should, and I don't really know what else to say.
Losing the low buys, those got to hurt, right?
Oh yeah, on Mirage twice, I don't remember on Nuke, I don't remember on Mirage twice we lost, for sure.
I guess it begs the question, not to just kind of harsh at you right now, I'm just curious, where are Team Liquid's T-Sides?
We're struggling on both sides, T-Side it feels like we have what it takes to play a good T-Side in terms of team playing strategy.
But I feel like we are failing to execute it properly, especially with confidence.
I mean, it's not easy when we haven't won a game in a long time.
Yesterday, obviously, we won, but that's slowly getting back into it.
But the counter strike is all about confidence as well.
And you can have the best trackbook in the world, but if you can't play out the round,
then the round is useless.
So yeah.
And this confidence goes, you know, it's for Team Liquid,
this isn't necessarily going to be that pinnacle of, hey, let's inspire it.
But I do want to ask you to say something on behalf of Team Liquid out of the fans.
I've said it before, but it's a disappointing time for Liquid.
Definitely the fans deserve a lot more and better results than what we're showing.
This team also, we've worked a lot in the last couple of weeks,
and we were hoping that this tournament was going to be a breakthrough for us.
coming here winning one game is not enough. So yeah, sorry. Thank you very much. Thank you.
Yeah, just a bit around for liquid in this one. Exit from the Interlux Dream Masters Atlanta 2026.
And before we talk about positives coming out of Gamelizion, I do just want to reflect upon that interview
from Shuei because just going back to that first question from Trace, that sigh and where do I start from Shuei?
Anyway, I felt that, man, because there were so many issues in this game, and he's just
almost really not the laundry list of problems for Liquid right now.
Yeah, and I think it's the culmination of a longer standing rough period, of course.
In isolation today was another not great performance from Team Liquid.
The way they lose on Mirage with the double E-Courses, he also, you know, remembered the
way they lose here on Nuke, where he even said himself, he felt like they were outplayed,
you know, the game plan from Gamer Legion shut down Liquid's T-Side.
We have a couple of examples coming in later with exactly what happened, but overall it
must feel very frustrating for an in-game leader when you have a lot of questions and
seemingly no answers to any of them.
And also, you know, reading between the lines, talking about having a deep strat book and
everything but the problem, the execution, that's kind of putting it on the players,
right, more so than the lack of preparation or that they don't have enough things that
they could do.
And I agree with that, like no matter what the plan is, right, if you're not executing
decisively with confidence, it's probably not going to end up working when you need it the most.
Yeah, 100%. And just reflecting upon his last answer as well, when it feels like he's been
in this situation so many times, when it's, you know, say something to the Liquid fans, it's always,
I'm really sorry for the disappointing showing. But he also said that, you know, the fans deserve
more, but also the players. And I agree with that sentiment, Jacob. Yeah, so do I. I mean,
obviously for Team Liquid, it's been a long time now where things haven't worked out. So it gets a
bit tiring for him to address it all the time. And I think there's nothing that he would like more,
than a couple of wins at least. Even beating the MLB right here and maybe even losing against
either Senna or Astralis would have been a step in the right direction for Team Liquid,
but it's so hard to find anything positive to say. You can pinpoint yesterday was Napoli playing
well or earlier today was Napoli playing incredible well. This game he was nowhere to be found, so
whenever you find these small things you know where it's like okay this seems to be
trending in the right direction. Our mouths had a great showing on Mirage until they didn't.
You know, it just falls flat the very next moment.
So there's no silver lining right now for me and for Team Liquid.
And it's hard to imagine this being the roster after the major unless something significant.
I guess I mean more in the sense of the individuals and their name value deserve more in my opinion.
Right. We were already talking about it.
Maybe Ultimate is the only outlier in terms of okay, doesn't have the kind of tenure and experience
behind it. Maybe she way falls into that category as well.
But the other three, like I feel like they deserve more. No.
No. You deserve what you earn, you know.
They deserve an opportunity, a team where there is some sort of city.
Yeah, here's the thing, I don't want to go full guru mode here or anything,
but you need to find joy in the game, right?
And I think it has to be more about the process than the destination, right?
Like if all your joy or everything you do in Counter-Strike rolls around results,
I mean, that's going to be a rollercoaster of emotions,
especially if you're going through long periods of struggling to get results like
Where's the the fun in that you know and it's going to be increasingly difficult to get out of that slump
So you need to create an environment in which you're looking forward to going to practice and interacting with your teammates and you know getting better
Instead of it just feeling like a chore and work in that environment doesn't matter how much your salary is
What are the outside factors how you're doing in other things right like it's all like everyone's gonna show up
Everyone's gonna do what they're told everyone's doing the job
But your heart isn't in it and it's going to be difficult that that's why you know
It's no surprise that vitality again today want an overtime map right like and they can come back all those many times
Because they have that unity and it's no surprise that liquid again lost two rounds to half-pies
Lost multiple clutches on the second map and rounds with advantages and then they don't look
Like a proper team right like this doesn't happen by accident these culture fits in this unity is hugely important
when we talk about the best of the best,
when we talk about your tier one tournaments
and getting into the top 10 in the world.
I like philosophy, Anko.
The only thing I like more is when you cook.
You've been crafting something for us.
What have you got?
Yeah, I think this is one of the rounds
that we saw in the first half,
because there were a couple of 1v2s that they lost,
but this one had a lot going into it.
So at the start of the round,
we're going to CPR right to go down the vents,
which I think is underutilized in the current meta,
like these moves, either a solo player or as a team.
So he gets down there, seemingly unassuming from liquid players, even though Elyse is in this forward position outside.
So now they want to create commotion for him to go down.
This was actually a huge kill from Elyse. They have all information.
Okay, it's either RAM or A. So the A fake comes in and even unfortunately for PR from this position,
like he's taking his time to kill Ultimate, but he didn't see Nath, right?
So he just kills Ultimate here.
He's going to book it for the B bomb site to secure the site.
NAF is going to be able to get only one kill from this position.
He gets traded, right?
So in this situation, Alish, he came from hell.
He got the double kill.
This is Shui and Malb's with only pistols.
They have no armor.
Alish has the saved gun, the kit.
And most importantly, if you look at the minimap,
the bomb is on ramp as well, and he has this information.
But instead of sort of waiting out the time,
We need to look at the time 30 seconds left not a lot of time for PR in this 1v3, right?
But instead Shuie tries to like quickly get down. I'm sure he may probably talk to Malibus about peeking together
Right and and maybe getting PR, but it's just unnecessary in the end. He's able to win
A 1v2 clutch and sort of saved around for for game religion
I think we even have some of the comms can sort of give us a better insight into what happened in this round
I'm not letting him get the bomb. Just run to me. Full run.
It's right here. I was running.
It's definitely goes right here.
Nice!
Is that what you anticipated?
I think at the very end it was fine because they wanted to play
together. I think it was for me the part
earlier when Shui was still alive, where it's like, you can both just go up.
Like if Shui was also there alive and then the two pistols could sort of just swing
for a leash, I think they'd probably end up winning that round.
But also Counter-Strike is about split-second decision-making and, you know, those kills
from a leash happen almost at the same time as they were going down when.
So maybe just a bit of a lack of focus in that moment.
So you put the shoe on the other foot then and look at game of the legion.
Obviously, they're going to be playing the winner of Sinners vs. Astralis.
If you don't want any spoilers to that, I'm just taking a look at the HLTV page.
Okay, it's just finished.
Astralis won.
Excellent stuff.
They're going to be playing them.
What do you think of that moving forward?
That's a cool game, you know, and two teams who duke it out, you know, recently as well.
So there's a bit of a grudge match going in for either of them.
A game where I feel like both can come in with the expectations to win in some massive
game, not only in order to make the playoff, but even in the VS implications as well.
If you're following that, you know, day to day for both Astralis and Gamer Legion, if
they want to get invites to Tier 1 tournaments post-Colombo major.
They have to gather points now.
So winning that game and then making it into a playoff
is mega, mega important, not only in isolation to this tournament
and obviously making the playoff, but also in the future
and for them to be present at Tier 1 tournaments after the summer break.
Yeah, certainly.
And I think we saw a lot of shouting in that game,
some frustrations, some table smashing from Hoocsi.
So at least it ended in a victory, right?
and they have one more game to play, hopefully,
can make it into the playoffs.
And we talked about them bouncing back
from what happened at Drywalls,
get another opportunity here for a rematch
right against Gamelige.
Yeah, in terms of take-aways from Gamelige
from the series, because we've kind of been looking
at the side of Liquid's being.
Blackluster, what are you looking at
that you hope to see Gamelige
in replicating later on stage to make it to top six?
I think we saw on the CT side,
You know, the aggression, the not playing scared, taking risks, being proactive.
You want to see more of that.
On T side, we saw some pace throughout the tournament from them, really,
but good preparation also for Nuke here against Team Liquid.
So just more of that.
It's been pretty solid for Game of Legends, for the most part.
Outside of that one map where they got blown out by Na'Vi, I mean, they looked pretty good.
Yeah, I agree with that.
I think the preparation in this game was definitely evident.
There were a couple of moments in this CT side for GamerLeading where it felt like they had Liquid like a book, you know.
Now they have to play the second game in the same day.
One would argue that preparation going in against Astralis is not going to be as detail-oriented,
but the good thing for GamerLeading and Astralis for that matter is that they played recently.
So they have a pretty good idea of how each other plays.
So it should be a quality game of Counter-Strike.
But if anything, I'm also noting the fact that the win is coming from different directions for GamerLeading.
It's not about one player or two players popping off.
It's a unit, it's a team, and one map, it's PR doing incredible work.
the next one it was Snacks on Mirage. So there's a lot of different playmakers at hand right now
for for game alleging and usually that creates a bit more stability which we've seen so far in
this tournament. Obviously that's going to be our final game of the day but we can take a look at
what else is on the schedule. First of all for the B stream side of things because that is where
the advancement matches are indeed going to be going down. If you can believe your eyes,
Bat Boom versus Pain is one of them, Janko. Yeah definitely on everyone's bingo card right,
Everyone's predictions are going swimmingly with this one, but yeah, I mean, both are shocking really to be in this in this position
Haven't heard much of paying gaming, you know, didn't see them as much when it comes to tier one counter strike had mixed success
And on the side of bad won't just struggling to get five players to a tournament
You know, it had two standings to make it into the major now
Flamus is waiting to see what the visa situation will be like, whether he can, whether he will be playing the major or not
but obviously taking down Vitality, the only team outside of Falcons to be able to do it
this year and in a meaningful game at that is just such a huge feat.
Yeah, it's not on my bingo card either. You know, one of the two teams are going to make it
straight to the semifinal, which means the team would have stand-in. It's going to be the first
team to qualify for the semifinal at Atlanta, so it's quite surprising. I will say that,
boom, have looked great so far, whereas for Paine, I haven't seen much of them, but seemingly so,
as well, playing better than they have been in the past, so it should be a fun game.
I love a boomage comeback story. That's something I absolutely love.
Navi vs. Legacy, that's going to be the other qualification series going down.
There is a clear favour in that one, but I really loved just the pace coming out of Legacy yesterday.
Like, it couldn't have been more evident inside the game.
They were just like, we want to shut this one down. We want to be making it to playoffs.
You like an odd comeback story as well?
Yeah, they were relentless, really. And you could tell they're a different team
compared to Rio, right? Had some conversations after that tournament about how to approach
some of these games and yeah, it has gone great. And I think playing now will be good for them to
sort of get tested by a second best team in the world really before the playoffs and get a temperature
check for where they're at. 100% We can take a look at what is on the cards for us, though, on the
asian side of things. We're going to be following the lower bracket all day long, which of course,
as we just talked about, game Legion taking on Astralis for one of those final spots within
the arena. But that's exactly
what's happening in our next
game of the day. And yeah, the
bet boom upset means that
vitality. They're having to
run the lower bracket. Gauntlet
indeed. We're going to head
things to a quick break. But
when we are back, it is bait
taking on vitality to see who
will be making it to the play
Something special just won't let us do that
And that takes a new chapter to come
Gotta get some!
We are back!
Catechers? Never heard of her.
Holy absolute cinema.
Go to...
Even with British player.
Bread?
Player.
Best value player on the market.
He cost the paint in two place of fish and ship today.
Cup of tea and match days, so he can get in the zone.
Pee-gee? Or twinning?
I thought we tarty would be crushed, but this surprised me. Dilly boys.
What did I hate it's all the smiley face yummy smiley face beans smiley face
No, it is simple dog don't update that's all pure cope
Dream is free
Christ free
Destroy
Props to Vitality for throwing a few rounds to make it close game. It's actually true
A goat don't hasn't even started yet, he's still angry and will win everything.
Right, TO should cancel all tournaments.
No need to play anyways, because don't pick called the winner on HLTV forums.
Why wasting money on tournaments when HLTV user tell you all the outcomes on the 15th of January, 2025?
Smart boy, not sure what makes me happier.
Literacy winning so convincingly or don't fancy an apex hitter having a two-foo for a minute.
Such a dilemma.
Also, rope-savaging phase for last year.
Chef's kiss.
Apex job saved by Zywardian.
Oh, thanks God.
Paycheck hitter, he's a motherfucker.
Rope's buff.
Real.
Rope's private friends.
They're stopping us here
Goat bool and Robsicle will dominate 2025
They picked biceps
She will cycle to Austin Major
Top 5 so far this year Blast & Kettle
First dunk, second Zayu
Third beat, 4x Interest, 5th drops
Full of shit this
Tell me you didn't watch GF without telling me you didn't watch GF
Smart man doesn't try to predict the future, because smart man knows he can't.
Good for a team with two IGLs.
Woo!
Mezzi was IGL on Galactic.
Right, and Fezzi wants LVPs against season 1.
It's not a bad idea, no?
Like we say in France, deux sales, deux ambiance.
Georgia 2026
My check one two one two you play video games then
So violent for no reason. Hey, yo, what's up? Y'all anything about counter strike video games? You know about counter strike
I'm on the Georgia Tech fencing team. Tell me what crossroads there might be between counter strikes and fencing
You know counter strike here in a clutch situation. It's kind of the one-to-one situation of you and your opponent fencing
Just going for the last stab or that last, uh, quickscope op.
Alright, bet. That was, that was good.
What do y'all think about people playing video games against each other competitively?
Oh, I love it. I like the smack-talking they do.
Hey, what the hell did it do, man?
For your favorite Counter-Strike players?
I gotta go with an OG Kenny S.
What would you say to Kenny S if he was watching right now?
You're my inspiration. I think about you every match, but I'm fencing.
What do you think about that?
Kenny S was never my favorite, if that's what you're thinking.
Y'all play video games by the chance?
Oh, he didn't even realize it, I mean, Jacob, when you roll up here and you saw this mic
flag, you said, oh, I'm gonna bike a little bit faster now, what do you think?
I thought I missed, we'll get as far as we're as possible from you as fast as I can.
You got to find me today.
I had a blast in me today, so I'm, you did what?
You had blasted me today?
Just kidding.
No.
Bye.
The Intel Extreme Masters Atlanta 2026 is brought to you by ESL in partnership with Intel,
Acer Predator, DHL, Chex, and ZOE.
to be taken to the booths as
we round out our deciding game
in group a two teams who weather
their respective storms earlier
on today. But now the pressure
is on once more as only one team
can make it through to top six and make it to the playoffs and I think Yanko goes without saying it's just
A tad surprising the battalion here right now. Yeah, I mean that's wild but alatine the lower bracket. That's crazy
That's like if Jacob fell off his bike or if Jason's pulled a drink, you know, and that actually did happen
Why did you say that?
But yeah, you're right. It was a big surprise and how did you do that?
Well, he wasn't they say like it's like riding a bike like that. That's the
He doesn't forget it. Yeah, once you learn, you never forget.
It wasn't previous, you know. It wasn't previous.
That's why you are wearing a helmet here.
You lost all confidence.
That's why I wear a helmet in Green Room World Design, yeah.
Do you think that that will happen to Vitality too?
Is there confidence gone now because Big Boom came in?
I think you you crash once on a bike
and then you make sure it doesn't happen again.
And I think that's the same mentality
that's coming you went.
Yeah.
It's just kind of recap how Vitality found themselves
in this situation, though.
Obviously, Nuke, a little bit of an issue for them right now,
particularly on those cheese sides.
and I felt like that they took full advantage of that, right?
Yeah, for sure.
I mean, that final map is very tall went down.
I think only two rounds on the T side.
I think it was 10-2 CT side for BedBoom that they were able to convert.
Then, I don't want to say barely, but it gets carried there for a second.
You know, once with Altimans, they're sort of forced by her like,
oh, I've seen this movie before, but props to BedBoom.
They did still manage to close the game out.
And we heard from Apex, even after day one, talk about that,
you and their T sides.
And against FaZe earlier today, well, they did get just enough on the T side to get it
into OT and were able to close out the game.
And they've been vocal about, you know, taking it easy in between these two tournaments
in the US and not practicing, right?
And Apex also told us in the interview, it's hard to make changes even though I'm thinking
about it in my head when we don't practice and to implement them.
So it's going to be a little bit of solving problems on the fly for Vitality in this one.
Yeah, I feel that kind of following the same script as we saw in Rio to some extent, you know, again in the group stage,
not necessarily looking at the best, but the more they got warmed up into the tournament,
we saw what they did, you know, once they got into the playoff and then just absolutely manhandled the rest of the tournament.
Here the same thing, I think as you said, Janko, it's the same scenario happening right now.
No practice, you know, taking it a little bit chill in the group stage.
They show a bit of weakness, but, you know, as long as they make it into the playoff,
I feel vitality are also one of the teams that they play their way into a shape, you know
Sometimes you see it with with other sports, you know that the more games you get under your skin in a short period of time
Well, you can argue that they've had more practice at this tournament in those games that they had leading up to it
You know, so they should be getting better. What a bit that zero bus. Exactly
It's it's true and I wasn't necessarily worried about vitality as much as a team, right as much as it was about the individual level
Because when you don't touch a mouse in a keyboard for a week, that can get a bit dicey for the players,
especially ones that like to get their warm-up in and a ton of reps, but actually they're doing fine on that level.
So I was still the high-strated player of the tournament that hasn't necessarily been an issue for them.
So yeah, that upset, a loss to the side of Betboom right now, looking to get back on track already beat Pace.
I did see Apex tweeting out prior to that week off saying hey any facilities in New York
that maybe myself and Messi could go and just have you know a little play around on. I don't know
whether anything came to fruition for the other trio though. I mean you're in the middle of Yosemite
definitely no touching any pieces there. No and that will you know reflect on the way they at least
feel on the server you know. We have played on the disc talking about it as well you know one
thing is how mechanically you're going to fare and how quick you get up to date with that but
Another one is how much in the zone you are, you know, in terms of communication, your split-second decision-making, etc., etc.
It's something that develops and gets better the more you play, you know, and obviously there's something to be said about the whole muscle memory thing
that also goes in with the mental side of it, which is why I'm making the point once more, you know, the more they play at this tournament, the more games they get.
Even games like Face Earlier, you know, we have a very hard fought game on Nuke that's going to give them a bit of an edge the deeper they go into the tournament.
We saw in Rio as well, not to the same degree, maybe they didn't have too much of a break leading into that one as well,
but it's just a question of time before they dial into it again and who knows how they've been spending the time's office
Well, they play one game a day now today too obviously, but there's been time to practice during this tournament as well
So I'd expect them to get better game by game
Yeah, it's hard to criticize Vitality's approach to you know, skipping tournaments and taking time off after tournaments with how much success
They've had doing exactly that from last year going into this year, right?
I don't know if maybe their decision was slightly affected by the caliber of teams that are at this event
And we talked about it last night a bit back at the hotel.
I think ideally what you would do is, you just come in two days early here,
ask ESL to hook you up with a practice room for two extra days,
so you get at least the feel for the game a bit more,
and then get one full day of practice, even preferably two,
and that would sort of be the middle ground for me,
compared to having full time off until it was like arrival day for everyone here.
I guess that's the thing. How do you kind of wage tournament versus one another? Obviously,
Rio, you're going to be trying to peek at that one because the grandstands are on the line,
right? And I have no doubts that maybe this was maybe just a little bit of a backup. If it didn't
happen in Rio, I imagine that the approach would have been quite different. It goes without saying
they're not going to be doing this before Cologne, right? And I guess it's tricky as a team when,
sure, you know your calendar for the foreseeable future, but choosing which events that you go,
Okay, we just we can't give it the full gas here. It's just not sustainable. Yeah, then
Deciding where to peak is important, right? And then having those goals that you set even from tournament to tournament
But also in the big picture for things and I think that's where apex is worth his weight in gold because not only are the great at
Setting these goals and managing sort of expectations
But also once they're actually at the event, he still finds a way to sort of get everyone's
bellies on fire, right? Get everyone to really give it their all, right? And that's why they
are able, even though it's not their priority to win all these tournaments that they go to.
That's a different part of that conversation for me as well, because there's a lot of teams who
are speaking, you know, in terms of wanting to peak at certain events, but doesn't necessarily
work out. It does feel like we're in vitality. It was the same feeling I had with Astralis back
in the day, that whenever they sit eyes on a tournament, whatever they want to peak at a
certain tournament. They also make sure to back it up by actually being great at said tournament.
There's other teams out there who have the same exact conversations where we want to be great at
this tournament. This tournament is very important for our VIS standings, but they don't come into
the tournament in the peak shake. So, yeah, you can talk as much as you want about it, you know,
pointing out a few tournaments during the calendar, six months in advance, and say,
that's where we want to be great, but very few teams deliver on that promise as well.
Which Vartalia have been able to consistently do for the VASPMDUV, you know?
Could I maybe try and just start a little bit of a fight? Because you guys, you both have
Some podcasts that you're a part of obviously talking kind of for you.
Do you want to throw a new had a two slightly different takes in terms of
our vitality, the greatest team of all time.
You say Cologne undisputed right now, Jerry Sturle.
I believe Jacob, you said they already are Defender case for my money.
They are, you know, and I think there's a few different ways of going about it.
I think for the only argument I could make for Australia's to be still considered
better than my tally, it's the fact that they have one more major to the name.
And I think that's your point as well, you know, with Cologne, it becomes
indiscussable almost to some degree. I can have that conversation. My problem with it is that Vitality have so much else that Astralis didn't have in that period of time.
It's also been a longer era now for Vitality. One thing, again, you could make the case for Astralis, at least I tried to do it, was that they had a period of 14 months where they were considered the best team in the world.
Certain drop-off periods, you know, certain tournaments were the one necessarily winning, just like Vitality had as well, but it's been longer now for Vitality.
So, to me and my understanding of what I watch,
we count as right, the way they dominate,
the way they show up to tournaments without practice
and still win, I've never seen the team be able to do that.
So that's why I think Vartalia are the best.
Yeah, I think my case is a bit more difficult to defend,
but it does come down to the majors for me, right?
Because how many ECSs has Astralis won?
Exactly.
How many BLASTs have they won?
How many epicenters?
Like, you don't know,
but you know they won three back-to-back majors,
they won one Grand Slam, they won Katowice, and you know they never won Cologne.
Like that's what you all remember when you talk about that era. Why?
Because those are the tournaments that matter the most. And yes, Vitality's level of dominance
and the consecutive tournament wins this year, last year, in the first half of the season,
is impressive. And that's probably what sets them apart the most. If it weren't that dominant,
like if it were just a couple more losses, even along the way in this tournament, I mean,
these dudes went three tournaments without losing a map in the playoffs.
That's right, that's mental, that really isn't an insane level of domination, especially
when you think about it, it's MR-12, right?
But it's not going to matter to me, they end up losing Cologne somehow, and maybe they
get overtaken by another thing, you know, you thought it impossible last year at this
time.
But then Furia shows up, wins a couple of tournaments in a row, sort of goes into the Budapest major
as the number one favorite.
So it's not impossible, eventually it will happen, it's going to be tough, but that's
why you see Falcons make the changes.
where spirit may changes. That's where mouse met changes, right? Like all these teams are
making changes because they want to beat Vitality. They're everyone sick and tired of losing to them,
and that's what it's going to take for someone to overthrow.
If Vitality get double points in that case, then if they do win Cologne, obviously Vitality is an
organization, won it previously. It isn't this superstar team though, considering Astralis
never won it. You got a major and it's in Cologne. Surely they're Cardpulps and...
Yeah, I think, listen, if they win Cologne, then you can't make the case anymore for Astralis.
I feel like right now, maybe you can a little bit also their first
Cologne win for Vitality was with Spinks not drops. Yes. Not the exact same
That's why I don't necessarily count the the Atlanta major for Astralis because it was with with Kirby and it was a long time ago
When you talk about the Astralis roster
That's a bad point
So and then but the two Grand Slams also matter like that's really hard because apex messaged me
He DM me when I was like when we did this on the podcast too
And he's like, I just have a question.
Do you think it's harder to win a major or a grand slam?
I'm like, well, the grand slam, right?
It's like, okay, I was just checking.
Listen, I'm just making, I know you're going to use this.
Like, it's fine.
It's all good.
No, he's just laughing about it.
But, you know, that, that, that is, that's, is why, like, people are
already giving it to them because no one has ever wanted two times back to back as well.
Like, it's a lot of impressive feats that that vitality is.
So I got back to a conversation I brought up with you and you, me,
No, no pun intended. We were talking about it back in Austin almost a year ago to the
day now. What defines an era when we were still like, is it Vitaliy or is it not? How
do we even define there? Yada, yada, yada. Duration, number of trophies. But I think
it was either Mario or Jason. Jason's a smart stuff sometimes, I guess. He brought up the
idea of being meta-changing, meta-defining. Astralis did that. Vitaliy, have they done
enough?
No, not in the way Astralis did. But for me, for example, that's not an argument for
Astralis necessarily, right? I mean, you can't take it away from Vitality, that it's just a better brand of Counter-Strike now.
It's harder to sort of reinvent the wheel. What they did was just they just do a lot of small things much better than anyone else.
Like you talk about the team play and the utility from Astralis back in the day.
I mean, look at DHE usage from the side of Vitality and the CT side and what Apex is able to.
some of the harass that we see a lot now from teams with DHEs, like they sort of introduced that
to the meta. And I know that's not as sexy as what Astralis was doing. And I know there's a lot
of people like myself who had to go up against Prime Astralis and definitely feel it. It's your
favorite game from Beijing. And it happened fair, right? But I don't think it's fair to add that to
the conversation really in a way, oh, they're just playing better than anyone else. That's not good
good enough, they have to do something like mega differently.
It's also a question of taste, I think, you know, in terms of what do you
value? Because I buy the argument that, yes, sure, Astralis changed the
meta, you know, and that also have, you know, cultural impact, as people like to
say, in terms of inspiring a new generation and inspiring a new field of
commerce, right, players. And, you know, in that notion, you speak about the
AT grenades from Apex and Vitality nowadays. They also did have Sonic as a
coach for for quite some time, who were the inventor of that back in
Astralis. So certain things overlap in those periods. Another, you know, thing
for me would be to say, you know, what do you value more?
You know, Astralis being a team that were able to step up in the moments,
win the Major in Atlanta, where they didn't play well.
You know, I played them at Atlanta in a 2-2 game.
They were one game away from being eliminated.
They were lucky that they faced you in there.
They were super lucky.
They definitely grew the worst team they could in that 2-2 game.
But that's again, you know, to be said,
that they weren't necessarily favorites to win that Major, stepped up, got it done anyway.
The Starladder majors, well, in Berlin, coming into that one,
they had a bit of a crisis.
People were talking about roster changes.
Is this going to be a great looking Astralis or not a nervous on the show up and win that so
I feel like there's a difference you know in vitality heading into cologne where everyone expects you to win
Everyone expects vitality to win in austin so there's a lot of added pressure and that we got where
Is a couple of those majors where astralis they went into and they're like no one really
Necessarily expects us to win and yet to do it anyway
So so do you like that more or do you like the team that is under a lot of pressure and then ends up winning anyway
And I think in light of the meta changing gameplay and whatever
I think actually now thinking about it goes more in the favor of vitality because they can do multiple styles
Well, like they can play more as a team when it's necessary
And then play slower and have set execute or they can play more loose and let their
Individuals go for openings and then and play a bit more free-flowing
So I think that's more difficult to do rather than master sort of one style of play
It just is a little sidestep whenever anybody mentions like utility usage and vitality
I always just get flashbacks to Caddo with Vitality vs Spirit. It felt like they just do every
single position that Donk would be in every single downtime and it's like, oh, Naded,
kaboom, you're dead. And it's like, okay, we're actually, and that's where I do buy into the
whole idea that Vitality did change the way teams play Counter-Strike and kind of why I bought into,
I guess, maybe a little bit earlier than others. Okay, this is a Vitality era that we're in, right?
In terms of how you would define an era, though, yeah, because there's nothing else that you would
kind of throw into the mix. Obviously, trophies is very important, duration very important.
Any other kind of factors you put in there?
Yeah, I think I was just thinking when you had a conversation, Chad made a great point
as well and he might maybe speak with you on the broadcast a little bit like there's
eras and different teams can have eras. But I think what we're seeing Vitality have now
is a dynasty, right? Like it's been happening across a longer period of time and even though
there's a season where they struggle a little bit, they're able to bounce back and keep
it going right so you had shorter eras where teams really good for a season you know the
liquids summer where they win the Grand Slam like here and there, Brazilians for a while,
Fnatic for a while, all these different teams at different times, Navi right but those were
eras perhaps but this is sort of a dynasty because it's happening across a longer period
of time the prestige events like the majors, your Katowice, your Coulons and then you add
on top of that just how dominant it is and that people struggle to beat them even at the other
tournaments I think is also what comes into effect. 100%. I think that's what's difficult about
looking back on like past years as well because it feels like the bar almost always changes and
then it's like you say about the liquid one like at that point in time it was no question you say
about the LGSK one but that period it was no question but as we change and evolve obviously
the the measurements become much larger that you need to be hitting. That was my main argument I
I remember in Austin, when we had that conversation,
that sure, it's an interesting conversation to have,
and we can try to establish what is an era,
and are they already in an era?
But for me, it's something that we can look back on
when the era is done,
or when vitality has been dethroned.
It's so impressive.
In a sense, sure, but I think that makes a big...
It's not in the moment, no?
Well, that's what I'm doing.
I'm celebrating in the moment.
I don't wanna necessarily constrain them
to being in an era, in a dynasty.
It's like, let's evaluate that when they're done with it.
Right now, all we can focus on is that they're doing amazingly.
They're coming into Cologne as the heavy favorites.
odds are they will win Cologne as well.
So I would much rather enjoy that in the moment
and then we're gonna have all those conversations
afterwards as well.
And just to add a note to that as well,
it's also very difficult to compare different areas.
As you said as well, and you're learning to write here
for you, we're talking MR15 versus MR12.
We're talking an era here for Vitality
where they have deliberately made it a case for themselves.
The only show up at tier one tournaments.
I'll be honest, some of the Astralis trophies in their era
were at tournaments like this,
where there wasn't too much competition,
to be completely honest.
This is sort of like the first time Vitality
in a tournament where there's only one wheel
compared to the other against them in Navi
and the rest, they should be running over,
whereas that was the case a lot of the time first of all.
So you can constantly have that conversation,
change the taste of it, what do you like, what don't you?
But at the end of the day, it's two teams who rather
a massive impact on Counter Strike.
And that's my point here,
we don't know where this is gonna end for Vitality.
If we're standing here in a year from now
and they're still dominating,
that changes the course of that conversation completely,
which is why I'm not too crazy about having it all the time.
Yeah, if we could just bring out the graphic,
the worst flown just then,
because obviously we talk about the trophy,
stuff like the accolades all the time,
there's a record that are breaking as well. Right now, one of them that is in danger of
ending is the consecutive top four playoff streaks. It's active right now. 21 began
back at IEM kind of heat since 2025, which is just insane to think about, no?
Yeah, especially because when they were struggling in the second half of last year,
they were still making top fours all the time, which is what Apex was also saying. It didn't
feel the same way, though, obviously, but it still stands, right? Like they would still
make it into the semi-final and it was only then that they would lose to someone or to
the grand final and then they would lose. And I think the reason why we weren't giving
it a lot of credit was only because well the first half of the year they were just winning
everything right and they just raised the bar so much for themselves. I mean when would you have
ever I said this the other day is you know when the grand slam got introduced people thought this
is a joke no one will ever be able to win this one and now we're talking about vitality winning two
in the same calendar year. Like it's just ridiculous, right? Like that's what they've made us do with how dominant they've been.
To pre-literally said that sentiment, when we asked them about, you know, being the first one to win an ESL contest,
I was like, I saw it being announced and I was like, this is stupid. I was going to do it.
And so, yeah, I totally agree with that sentiment. It's insane to see them achieve that back to back
and potentially be able to get a third this year. Because we so rarely see any issues coming out of vitality,
I do want to pose a question just about that new T side and anything you've seen that is perhaps
aren't characteristic, maybe different, or maybe it's more teams figuring out how to counter vitality.
One thing I feel like that hasn't been working out for them, and one thing we always point out is
the impact Robs is having, you know, T-side lurking on a map like Nuke, and not necessarily making the
case that he's been figured out, but Robs is a player that is only enabled if the rest of the team is
sort of creating enough cares around the map for him to then thrive and come alive later into the
round, and I think his impact, T-side Nuke, has been a little bit less great as of later. I think I
I think I made the point in Rio to you, Janko, that he was the highest rated player in the world, T-side Nuke, out of everyone, by quite some margin.
That has slowed down a little bit. And again, what I'm trying to say here is not necessarily Rups, you know, not doing his job as good as you did,
but I think there's other areas on the map right now where I tell you they're not finding as much success, whether that is Apix in Yard,
working on the openings, whether that's them getting secret control without losing too much HP or losing a member in the process.
If you don't create enough, I guess, chaos around, then RUPS will never be activated to the same degree as he was being utilized so so well when they were winning every single time they played Nuke.
I think one of the reasons is also just slow start. You saw in this phase game, they lose pistol, they win the first gun round, they get reset against bad boom, they win pistol, they lose the second round, right?
So you're always playing from behind and that shrinks your playbook a little bit because you don't have the best economy.
You know, if you lose this round, you're back to an eco, so you don't want to do something like Mega Risky,
you want to probably play default, and it's the opposite for your opponents.
They have a good bang behind them, so they're playing with more freedom.
They're more aggressive, maybe they're pushing you in lobby, maybe they're having an outside setup at the right time.
So, Apex was also honest about it, saying he needs to take a look at it, right?
Could be a case of the spray that they took, and players a bit slow in terms of taking initiative,
and being proactive and just reacting, but we'll see if it ends up being in the pool here,
you know, whether it's an issue still for right out.
Just because Vitality are the best team in the world and maybe the best team of all time,
doesn't mean that you're immune to some of the other issues other teams are facing as well.
You know, speaking of confidence, when you have a couple of bad experienced T-Side Nuke,
you can take that experience, you know, bring that into the next game, and you'd probably
argue that right now in terms of that confidence in their own abilities, T-Side Nuke, I'm not saying
They're crammed up, but they're not playing as free as they are on some of the other maps,
where they feel way more comfortable.
You made the point as well for yesterday, heading into Overpass.
That's a map they know exactly how to approach.
That's a map where the T side, despite maybe being the hardest in the game, is very fluent
for Vitality.
They have confidence, their belief in whatever they do is going to work out.
That belief is maybe not there on Nuke right now, and Vitality is not immune to that as
well.
Just because you're the best, there's still certain areas where you can get affected.
Well, we spoke on Hello Law about Vitality, so let's hear from the team themselves.
Xtaz KSI of Trace.
And the story is playoffs or bust. That's exactly why we're over here to talk to Vitality.
Pretty unfamiliar territory, so Xtaz is so kind to give us some words here before we jump into their second match of the day.
Quite the day already, right? Tell me a little about how today's working.
I mean the first game was okay. We improved a bit of T side on Nuke, so it's positive.
It's 2-0, so we still have energy to play the next game at least.
You nailed it right there. Let's talk about those T-sides. It seems like everyone wants to say Vitaly doesn't know how to play the T-side anymore. So what's going on?
I mean, we have a lot of things. We lack of practice, bit energy, our opponent at that world.
We struggled a bit individually, a lot of things are the day, so for me it was a bit
expected when you don't practice like that, but by then I think we can improve and hopefully
we can win and then improve for the playoffs as well.
Yeah, and just getting the playoffs, you know, this playing this B8 team, how much footage
could you have on these guys?
What would you anticipate and what do you go into this matchup looking for in B8?
I think they are really good individually, that's not that hard to understand what they want to do, but they do well, what they have.
Also, yeah, there are situations they don't have their coach, I think, so maybe they play with more freedom, I don't know, we will see.
And for us, okay, we have one hour to prep, hopefully that's enough.
You could probably honest something there. For some people, they are already trembling, they think Vitality is done for, they think you guys are cooked, which is crazy to me.
So is there anything you want to tell them right now?
That's what they're saying. He's just one tournament. We are not done yet. Fair enough. Thank you very much. You're welcome
I'm real. I don't know who the hell traces misspeak can do is pipe in that bar
I'm on the streets you talk to Jacob. So that's all the crazies are out there
He is the man on the street some may say we should probably talk about the team the vitality do have to indeed
Hopefully take down if they want to be make it spouse and that is baits just in case you haven't been catching up with any of their matches
they were also beat by a Bat boom and then they went on to beat BC game and foot early on today foot very impressive
Yeah, I hate them now. I mean I hate bait because I like foot. I like how they're doing
I thought they were a dark horse for this tournament
But he knocked out by baiting the lower bracket and to all and they had a close series at book arresting the quarter final where foot
Took them down on their way to the trophy, but yeah for bait. I'm surprised
They made it this far right like because when it comes to tier one tournaments and unlike some of the other teams
they played a ton of them, they were in Rotterdam, Cluj, Rio as well, Bucharest, right? They've struggled,
like they were the best win one game, and then get eliminated when we talk about the IEMs, last
place at BLAST losing to Navi and NRG, and then, yeah, at Bucharest they made the playoffs before
losing to FOOT, so obviously nothing to lose for them in this matchup. Now it's very important for
FOOB to even find themselves in this position, because as you said, 20-26 has not been a great
We effort them started off with a bit of a roster madness playing one tournament with a new AWP player
Then changing him instantly into to sissy who's slowly but surely been integrated into the lineup
So it's good to see bait doing better, you know, but each to their own scale
So to speak bait is not a team that's even on peak day, you know playing the best point of Counter-Strike should be able to to be
But yeah, I think here we'll see Mirage come in from bait
Not surprised about telling you're not playing more wrong with the maps
You know, we saw them do that real when there was a grand slam on the line this time around the plate safe
Well, I know, but I think it's the lack of practice, right, and just going to where you feel safe.
That's why I expected Dust to come in here from the side of Vitality,
and then probably, I mean, Fernand O'De Sider at the very end.
But yeah, I think you're right when you say they're playing into the tournament,
they'll get better with games, and I think that's why they want Dust too.
They want necessarily to experiment now.
They haven't had any time to practice and add stuff to experiment on these maps,
and they know they'll have a lengthy practice slash boot camp period going into the major where
they'll be able to add some new things to their map pool. It's just a fun contrast, you know,
considering that at IMU they were willing to gamble a little bit with the map pool,
they felt more comfortable than they do now with no practice. No inferno coming in for
bait ride here gives the option of nuke. I doubt what's happening, I gotta bring it to a nuke.
Potentially, I think that would be a bit of a mistake considering how much there's
They're struggling on the map, but they see where they go with it.
Yeah, there we go.
Orpaz is going to be the third deciding map.
I'm at the play well, you know, I'm at that even in this period, you know,
where they haven't practiced too much.
A few times where I've seen it, they look very, very shallow still.
Yeah, they started picking it in some of the important games.
And remember the Furia series, right?
Them picking it into Furia,
said that to someone six months ago, they would have called you crazy,
but speaks of the confidence levels and their T side is really solid.
Like, even if they start losing, they're able to rack up gun rounds.
That's the most important thing about overpass being able to win rounds on T side without that pistol and without that strong start
And yeah, I don't think there's any surprises here even though with the limited time for preparation
I think Vitality could have definitely expected mirage as the pick and obviously knew they were gonna pick this too and done
Good perhaps still it's a good safety pin travel overpass in the bank should be needed for vitality
But I don't think it will be needed. Oh, but is it doesn't look so good. I think he looks like he's sick
That's what happens when you spend seven days with Aper.
Give me something, Jacob.
Just something, one area where BAKER could potentially take down by Tali.
We saw Betbender, we saw them, we saw Miracle, or BAKER in the last one where they could
pull out.
I think a big win condition for them and a big reason as to why they're starting to
play better has been the resurgence of NBL.
Last year he was by far the best player, the guy you would always look towards when you
need individual output.
started off the year very very slow but he's been heating up into it he's been
getting better so I think NPL is a mess of wind conditions. Wait wait wait. You're saying NPL?
I'm saying NPL. Somebody clip that in the Twitch chat. A wild fast here and it could be, it feels like a
wild first of vitality to be eliminated. It's going to be a tough hill for Bates to be
something. It's time to get into it. Yeah I'm interested to see how this what goes
down but fair play Jacob. You've got to try it you know you got to try it. You know I've
remember the beef I know the beef you remember the beef I try to ignore most
beefs yeah I hope they go away apart from when it's a nice like marinade short
rib a chuck not a person but a bit of steak I suppose alright everyone playing
at home let's get serious shall we this is a two best three day for both of these
teams you know what they've got in common they're both lost to bad boom nice
okay and now one of them is gonna win one of them's gonna lose we've only got
two spots left in the playoffs one enough for grabs right here right now we'll
to get into the records on the line for Vitality as we go.
Sure.
Young man Sizi, smile on his face,
and anytime he's awping best, I'm against Zawood today.
Man, they speak of Mirage to start.
He starts and looking like it might be quite direct.
Or they may have heard Zawood, uh...
debatable.
Hey, Pigs has got that flash howl, he's ready to react
to the cool Flamesian Zawood standing by.
And here they come, perfectly positioned, Flamesy and Seidel just start to unload, Kents is all with the one claw back, but Flamesy catching the complete clicks.
What a comfortable way to start off your pistol campaign.
And Jank on the desk was talking about slower starts. Vitality, they were the second worst pistol team in the tournament.
Which is rare.
Yeah, that's 35.7% as far as pistol wins are concerned, whereas bait, they're middle of the packet, 50%.
So that one is going to be going a long way for vitality.
But what else is concerning for vitality, obviously?
We know with these expectations from the team with the lack of practice,
there's the expectation for the community for them to keep on winning.
Their second round conversions have actually been quite poor as well.
They only have 40% in second round conversions.
So we'll make sure we keep the focus here.
But because Bay didn't get the plan, it's unlikely to see a full spot.
So what would you say are the contributing factors to them starting, you know,
So, perfectly for the anti-bear. Is that something that you just, you know, you do what you do.
I see you preparing for a cast and you watch like, you know, all of the rounds layered on top of each other and you try and identify trends.
Presumably, that's something that Vitality will do for every opponent as well when it comes to how they're going to be playing their CT pistol.
Well, you and I could do this right now, for example, right? So, I'm on Skybox, so this is the same program that all these pro teams would use.
I've looked at Bayt, Mirage, T-Side, the last five matches and pistol rounds on them.
Okay, now now I've layered them all over the top of each other and I know that people at home can't see this
But your reactions can tell the picture. Yeah, take a look at this, right?
So these are you can't tell right you'd have to go through each individual round
But I've just layered these over the top of each other and by the looks of things here in the majority of their pistol rounds
That last five has been an eight play. So if you wanted to we could go into each individual, okay?
So the last person they played this is that was a three-pullet
It's a busy game, right? And if you go into the one before that, let's take a look
pretty similar pistol, I was just looking towards middle it's three through right
one through Palace, the one before that, another A play, right so their last four
their last okay so their last four pistols have all been A now obviously
you're taking a gamble they don't have to play into A right but you're at least
using history to inform the decision that you're gonna make and there was they
hadn't played I guess another tell from this is they don't play through middle
right? So they played very
sight centering there by telling
you three towards a two
towards B and shot them down
and just everyone's aware. Just
a coach Mike issue there. We
got the thumbs up from extra so
we can get back into the second
round of play. But yeah,
understandably, you're going to
kind of gamble, uh, leaning away
from middle. It's educated guess.
That's the perfect way. That's
the thing with the preparation.
You can take a look. You can
definitely find gaps and that's
going to be more with how players
are approaching things in their
with just general calling gets a little bit more difficult.
Is that a whole desk pad?
NPL, is it a desk pad game?
It's a desk pad game.
Okay, Kenzie's all.
He's here to have some fun.
He's a bit of a troll.
I don't know if everyone saw him during the desk segment
with Freya, Y and K and Pimp there,
but he was standing behind just looking into the void
showing that he's here to play.
I wanna know what Ghost is pulling that hammer back,
you know, like I thought AnimGraph two.
Why is the thumb not pulling that back?
Valve, fix, please.
Just saying.
I'm going to go with you being right. I don't really know how things work.
I don't know how things work either.
Like, does that just normally happen if you would have pulled the trigger anywhere?
Maybe that would just happen if you pulled the trigger.
Like, I'm not a firearms expert.
No, but...
I would expect something, you know, a thumb to be evolved.
It's a high probability that we're wrong.
Yeah, yeah, definitely. In fact, there are about four firearms experts firing up X2.
We could get Trace on the line right now.
He would know. He would probably know.
Trace would know.
Zawu essentially E-code there, so he's going to bring out the AWP immediately.
Oh, just to note as well, they don't have their coach maddened with them.
Right. They fit their manager, but their manager actually has counter strike experience.
It's not like he's just another Tom Dick or Harry.
All right, first off on the Harry.
We know. Yeah, we know a couple of those.
Tom is just Harry.
There are many dicks.
There's a couple.
Free starting for a little walk to middle.
Yeah. And ascent feels also just darted back after showing himself on a.
so they want to fight for mid-space, they're ready for...
Oh, that's a very well-timed incendiary from Robs.
Bounces off of the head of Sizzy.
Separate the pack. Is it a window boost?
Looks like they were flirting with the idea,
but also you've got to get past Robs' utile.
Here's another nade. Some chip damage, Delta III.
Time to absorb his primed and ready on the connector side.
His Apex is going to have to tend to this boost.
He's spammed a little late there, and they might actually shoot for the turn.
The fire, NPL, that is brave.
Just starts to spam back, trying to track the tracers.
Rob's trying to tend to this, a clean head shot on Sir Kenseth, or just as he avert his gaze,
and in unison as well, Zaywu managed to dispatch of NPL.
Wow, that's fallen apart at the scenes right there.
When I'm retooling, regathering Alex and Ascentiel back towards A, Sizi is on the lurk in middle.
Apex to burrow into sight, Flamesy over towards connector, and then Zaywu over jungle.
They're in strong position to shut this down, and A ramp has just been blocked for the 42nd mark.
He knows the AWP towards the window position, heard the step, heard the scope.
It makes it a little bit easier for you coming out of ramp, not having to worry about ticket.
So there's a positive for Asentio, but I think they're saving.
They live all like a saver.
Yeah, that's a save.
What an underwhelming first gun for the Bate boys.
Yeah, 3-0.
All right.
So a couple of things for Vitality last time.
They had to play two Vesta 3s in a day, was IEM Chumdu.
That was in November of last year.
They did go on to play in the grand final against Furia and ended up losing that one, the best of five, but they were dropped down into the lower bracket by Maus.
This time they were knocked down to the lower bracket by Betboom, which I think is surprising, but again with the context of the lack of practice.
Look, some people might say it's not an excuse to lose to a team like Betboom, but it just shows that maybe there are some weaknesses of Vitality that haven't been picked into a lot.
Like the Anubisers, we're seeing some weaknesses on the Nuke T side. Neither featuring today.
Last time Vitality didn't make Top 4 in an event was Blast Bounty to start off 2025, so well over a year ago.
Last time Vitality as an organization did not make the playoffs was Katowice at 2024.
So, I can't let go.
Yeah, and to me, I come into this thing and this would be a pedestrian game,
but considering some of the struggles we've seen, like even against FaZe earlier today,
it might not be the case. So let's see what they can bring.
Mac 10's around the saved AKs but very limited utility, this one looks tough.
Well, so I suspect once Vitality kind of have that wake up call of a lost about boom, you
are gonna get just a little bit more diligence in comms, a little bit more in the individuals,
You know a couple of extra hours of DM just to kind of shake that off
I imagine you are gonna get a different vitality after having that kind of cold water on the face of a
Being thrust to the lower bracket for the first time in like you said since China
Yeah, it's it's more about how much can you get done in terms of getting your mechanics back online, right?
Your attitude sure we'll get a kick up the pants
Yes, it's about like not if anybody who plays counter strike all the time if you take a week off and you come back
It's you'd be a little bit rusty to begin with right and it takes a couple of days just to get back into that flow state
That's essentially what we're looking with vitality. So they're warming into the tournament. No doubt
But everybody else is coming here to win right? These are the only guys who are coming in like yeah, it's all right
We're kicking our feet up for everyone else. Well, not for everybody, but most this is their Super Bowl
Yes, 30 seconds into a
Perfect peaks on in catches Alex advancing ramp. That's gonna activate flames. He attempts to draw kentus or look in the wrong way
trade from the same feels good
But Rob's catching the lurk on mid leaf silly and a centipede with nothing
They're gonna have to I mean, what else are you supposed to do? You're not winning this round
It's a two versus four. You've got a back away keep hold of those collage and kev
You are gonna have to start going for some rounds. So we're only four deep at the moment
But if this continues not expect a bit of over the fence from apex and boys
You gotta get one of these crack but that is four rounds where the opening kills have fallen in the favor of vitality
But area distinct lack of kills Alex I would say for bait four rounds in they have one frag
for a centio and one for kenziz or scissi alex and npl yet to get off the
starting blocks do you also have the b-stream underway that is the other
series concluding group A for i am at lanza bet boom taking on pain two teams
who could have been in the conversation before the event of maybe taking that
third spot I think people would have been expecting the likes of foot as well
I tell you, but foot also came in compromise, not on the best foot, ha, obviously, longs
was not with them when they're in Fort Worth, had the, I don't want to say illness, but
I guess it was, it's a health issues. He was public about them. People can go and find
that if they need to. But he's was with the team. They're eliminated earlier today by
Bay in two O fashion. So that one leaves a little bit of a mark. All right, well, saving
Even the guns like this, unless you start getting some plants, boys, you're really going to be in strife.
Not everybody getting the loss bonus round after round, it is going to have a cascading effect.
Well, looks like...
...just look like they're...
...they're trying to get towards a bomb site in a coordinated fashion for this one.
It's just so limited utility out, man. I know it's essentially an eco behind two set guns, but still...
...how much he meant to get done?
Oh, perfect. Pop flash, Sizzy.
is he audible towards Bench?
Mezzie, you've always been spotted.
So one of the rifles has been noted towards the B apartments.
Mega, that's enough.
Enforce the block smoke.
You're going to try and drain through Vitality's defensive
utile.
Yeah, good spot here from Rushly, right?
So Zawoo has this cat crawl.
So that's why Robson and Mezzie are both there,
but a focus fire over towards B.
Right.
And if you look at the radar, you can see Batati then are
worried about A at all.
Oh, look at that double peek.
Synergized, so I will even make it a triple peek from the windows right and then they quickly die back to age or count for any lurks
It's sense and again. We're at well the tail end of the clock 45 seconds as they go back to be
No flash no smokes no mollies you got to deal with the bodies and so I will fix on in for another clean-head shot
It's all too easy isn't it? So we're just racking them up. It's so leisurely
Just something for the scoreboard would be nice now, MPL. There you go. On the board.
Can you make it another?
Xayah was going to make it another.
This is out. A chance on the headshot, finding Robbs.
Okay, so he has started to get a couple of kills flowed.
Xayah, we've got a pistol out. Actually, another from MPL.
So good to see him warming into things. His first three frags.
All for naught. No plant, sure.
But I mean, considering what they brought into that round,
he's done very well for himself individually.
This was that Zywoo underhand flash that he comes swinging at.
Look at that, it's coordinated mid-player.
Satisfied, I'm sure.
Four Vitality and their fans.
Maybe not Bates fans though, that's going to be quite the frustrating one for the fifth.
I want to say get an opening kill, but at this point let's just get some kills.
But opening kill would go a long way, it's going to apply a lot more pressure on Vitality,
because Leisurely is a great word for this.
Essentially dry running right now from Vitality.
Reaction testing.
Yes, yeah
So I want you to be keeping your eyes on you know what that what the next
Has an opening kill nice from CZ's caught robbs on the short side
With a pack the standard pack Kenzie's or Alex and CZ you'll have this big control MPL
Opsinate over towards the bealer consent feel traditionally the a piece has now joined them back over towards middle apex
Sponsor the orb out top mid-steel staunch, and they really want to stall this out with a minute
So just floating around do they want to try and just delay the choke or do they want to fight in it?
No, they're going to start to
Pull up back to the sites now
They're really gonna go like cat to bee but MPL absent seems like it's the perfect path of least resistance
There's only messy in market. How much is meant to do from here very little especially
With the double triple swing from different elevations
Never mind, it goes marked.
I'd have a timing here.
Good, very well have the timing.
Yeah, two targets!
All too easy!
Both go down to Mezzy's M4.
It's a three on three post-plant.
Kenseth all gets it down.
Apex spotted one towards the best position.
He even gets the info on the orbs as well.
Sizi's going to need a reload.
He's got one bullet left.
All that connects, but the Molly's going to make life difficult for Sizi.
Fines cover.
Still has the pillar providing some help.
Apex low, going to look to be traded by Flamesy.
And there it is.
All the info though.
info though. Sizzles down nice free Sizzly on the jump across flames he goes down as I
will win the clutch. This NPL closes it down at Sizzly he starts and he finishes with NPL's
help three kills from their sniper they on the board. Sizzly's been obviously under
scrutiny coming into this team and not in like a heavy way but you see after an event he doesn't
perform on like oh why did they get this guy you know should have stayed with Hedtrick.
The next event he does all right and the next one he's not so good again but he's so young he's
16 years of age right and to be given this opportunity in bait look this is a
team that also is very young right they're only getting their experience
in front of our very eyes now so he's one for the future that's for sure that
must have been very fun to play against simple earlier in the day for sure
earlier in the tournament excuse me earlier than the day was against foot
you know Sizi a Ukrainian with a one in his name and started with an S I wonder
I wonder where his inspiration is
Let's see. Can they make a consecutive? I was all will be noted towards connector. You don't have to brave through that smoke
And see who doesn't have such a ring to it either
It's not sure off on the smoke flash smoke bang with the AWP it whistles it past the era of essential
And now he's actually posted for the angle on ramps is he's there Alex is bringing the bomb as well
Flash, could catch them. Flames is gonna swing on that. This shot from the AWPer, sees he goes down.
Oh, didn't scoop in. Oh, he's got a sentinel on the mark! Alex goes down! This is so comfortable.
Gonna recycle the word, leisurely for vitality.
Man, that's a nice one to finish. Sideway nine, frags, deep three in the round, and quickly back to winning ways.
It looks like Flames is finally suited to warm-end to things. He's looking sharp here with a couple of shots, seven and three.
the lowest rate of player for Vitality coming into this series today.
And where he for me has been one of their standouts throughout 2026. So again, right, the time away,
I'm happy to give Vitality with everything that they've achieved. The good graces of this.
I think expectation from themselves, from the community, you have to find yourself somewhere
in the middle, right? And this is the thing. There's the reality of the scenario and there's the one
that everyone thinks exists. But right now, six to one, five rounds to the good. You know,
you're going up against a likely partial now just because of the flow of the rounds the lack of
frags the sheer lack of bomb plants but mauling them at the moment this is the pace is making
this quite easy to handle if you're not really feeling pressured you haven't really gone up against
that many gun rounds either so it's gonna be uh plenty of tech nine to dig land in ak and swiftly
over towards B, all five starts a march. It's a weird mid-smite that's been thrown out of
the bush.
Rockshore will be short for this if Messi needs help.
Siu is called mid-clear.
Yeah, that, that, I don't know if it was meant to be for window or counter,
where I didn't land, where I was meant to.
Not an edgey.
Hello?
Yeah, looking good.
A-picking support as well.
This is going to be horrible.
How Bay just shredded, aren't they?
MPL peaked in perfectly by Messi.
Catches that timing.
Just as MPL was trying to advance.
I mean, these are the kind of rounds that just to kind of kill what little energy you may have had.
I was just saying, it's being very slow and they finally try to take a little bit more pouncy and they just still get stunted.
So, 2v4, another dent or two, continue to try and keep the money low for vitality.
Oh, they're boosting up. Alright, well, silently, Rumps has been able to garner this control.
Oh, it has the way back. Flamgie has the way out through underpass. You're locked in.
The box isn't tight, but there's still no way back.
And then Rob's back. Beautiful team play on display.
I mean, you just have to sit back and enjoy the show.
Vitality, I'll put it on for us all.
Yeah, I think the people at home obviously is starting to get fed up with Vitality just winning everything.
And one of the messages I'm putting out there is,
well, this is only going to happen once in a lifetime.
Enjoy it, but that doesn't get received very well.
I'm going to try a new angle.
Okay, right when you watch vitality play they're doing everything. I don't say perfectly
There's no such thing as perfect counter strike, but everything makes sense, right?
And obviously when you're winning and you're looking so dominant
Yeah, you can say that but you compare it to other teams where sometimes it's messy or they're not connecting in the same way
Vitality, you know show you the beauty of of how good counter strike can look when a team is this dominant when everyone is on the same page
We need another open kill. Oh
I don't think they're gonna find it.
Looks like it's gonna be Flamesy actually that manufactures a nice find.
Takes down a Senthiel and his teammate was forced away.
Look at his health. Poor guy got hit by an AWP and a Nade.
He got a 9 open kill so far.
If I was gonna throw a name into the ringers to someone from Bader can provide an opening.
It's Kensys AWP.
Yeah, I like watching him on Mirage. Like him and MPL are a lot of fun.
Oh, too much fun for Zaywe though.
Catches MPL on the swing, says he, good for one, does put Zaywe down, but at what cost
he is alone?
Top mid with the bomb and one HP.
It's just, can kensis or solo take this site?
As he doesn't seem to think so with a very good angle cast, just beautiful.
Write that one down if you're a Mirage Bianca.
And condolences, if you are a Mirage Bianca.
Sorry about that.
Someone's got to do it.
Someone has to.
Actually shout out to you.
Yeah, yeah, doing it for the team if anything you deserve an award
When are we when are we going the full veins where are you going?
and my tiny have clawed their way back through the lower bracket against all adversity to lock themselves out of the house.
Actually clip that, we'll play that later.
Yeah, we'll just use that later.
Yes, we'll use that later.
Reese, grab that, play that later when the game ends, alright?
Alright, give it a go.
Lie by, A-execute.
Bonk.
So, uh...
Ha ha ha ha ha!
How do you play in the quarter-final?
Oh well, we gotta wait for these seeding games to come to their conclusion, don't we?
Got that Navi legacy up a little bit later.
I'm curious to see how legacy they're in that one.
They've even been on my last summer thing.
That's the name with Centiel's name on it.
Catches it.
And MPL's Tech 9 vs. 4 fully armoured and equipped.
Members of FF7 finishes it off.
Yeah, this was during EPL. Obviously, we had the online stage one stage two before the land playoffs legacy did be now V2
Zero in an online game. So I also believe Emma made reference this in an interview about it would be nice to play against
Legacy to get revenge. So it's a seeding game. Sure. But I also think it's a clash of styles legacy
Quite the firecrackers and then you got this that now the other the structured bunch. So it's a fun stylistic clash
Five that's his eyes
So they started as I would be Apartments, gives Mezzie a little bit more freedom to hang
out on the short side.
Robbs has taken the secondary orb to the palace aggressive line.
And the sentiel's got the unenviable task of having to tussle with Flamesee on the rampside.
I say that, it's actually Flamesee departs, he's going for a walk.
Robbs has got the info, there's nothing palace, so why not have a stretch of the legs.
Speaking of, the sentiel has started to probe.
Mezzie on that short side's gonna have his work cut out for him.
Audible now, two Sizzie up on the cat.
And the headshot, fine, it's not easy, nice from Sizzie.
Mezzi opens up some avenues with the opening kill.
Yeah, that's his third opener and Bates third opener, so Sizi's been delivering in that department, at least.
Gatsby, he's got some palace on the all-time.
Gose catches Apex as well, can they convert this?
You kind of have to.
Robbs onto NPL, hitting a nice shot, but it's Encephial down onto the swing.
That's rough.
Okay, you've got to convert.
Sizi set you up.
Flamesy on this ramp.
Flank Alex has been spotted.
Robbs from palace and Zywell on cat with Sizi staring at him.
Tag from Robs is all nice again from Sizi, but Flamesy he still wants to take this one.
He wants the double digits right here and now.
He smoked the bomb.
You could.
Robs has it.
Smoke and a kill on Flamesy.
That's exactly their plan.
There's still plenty of time as well.
He humbled the smoke and a nice spray from Kensa's all of these Robs.
Not the lethal kill.
Flamesy in the 1v1.
Sizi versus Flamesy.
He knows he's got an AWP.
He's just going to try and sit in, but Sizi finds it through the smoke.
High impact quad kill from Sizi.
Gets bait there second.
Yeah, he's fun to watch nice round from the kid
To it's far from enough it's far from part from the course
But when you up against the best team in the world that anything will do at this point
Sissy just such a thorn in the side there you think a cent you should have ropes here dead to rights
But it's very noisy on that gives ropes enough time to adjust smoke turned out being alright
Thank you very much, okay
Well, I won't that's just taken down Alex. Poor guys had a rough off. He's at a very rough off
Don't do him like you guys did a zoo. We won now
Right, please be nice. This is you again. There we go. He got a sizzler equalizer. You got that cheesy bread
Such a significant this is like
And it has to be given to by an Australian so what's up?
look at mezi borrows in the apartments all there's
is this even with the off again what it worked once go to you don't see it too
often but why not
flames he is trying to find that angle over the top of the window smoke hoping
says he does
go searching or if they were a group for a beef in issue messy is it
even if he's not good for one the info comes in so early
that rotation should be able to get there unless they're flashing this he is
game what look at this angle I don't know if you're sure the MPR heart clears
yeah sure but I mean I don't fancy his chances
essential trading accelerating apex weird angle yes very weird angle he nails
the head shot as well onto a centiel on the top and together a second as well so
hello sis either the sis there's no one springs it down to the 1v1 16 year old
sniper I forget the bomb you can do it he's got the time nice parkour as well
from Zaiwu get someone to the short side, but he's already made it across.
Could be get back to back quad kill. Sizi trying to find some impact. Looking for
Zaiwu towards the market side doesn't know he's made the jump across and now
closing the gap with a 5-7. He isn't absolutely none the wiser as I was
right behind him rounding the corner with that 5-7 back. Stop undenied! Zaiwu
finds the 10th for Vitality. Sizi's trying his hardest, but they are getting torn to shreds on their map pick.
Oh, all my feelings, I'm taking the proof from it
I'm feeling, oh, all my feelings, I'm taking the proof from it
Come on, get together, tonight's a night
And even if you're feeling blue, it won't be all right
Feel your troubles behind, and tough no doubt
Don't you worry about the pain, they are the ones
Oh, I'm feeling
I'm saving the groove from the end
I'm feeling
Oh, I'm feeling
Turnin' loose and oh, I'm feeling
I have to break up dawn, a brand new day.
Everything will be brighter, in some kind of way.
I thought that I'd forget
I thought that I'd
Tonight we love to fight
And I want more feelings
And a groove underneath some tears
Oh, I want more feelings
I think you can feel it, that this is a metamasker.
Put back for the Intel Extreme Masters and it's comfortable for Vitality Math 1.
Looking to throw the knockout blow to bait and secure themselves a spot in the playoffs,
force to play two best of threes in a day. That's what happens when you lose to Beppu.
You know, that's the way she's going to go sometimes. Sometimes just like that.
It's not seeming like the end of the world, but let's see. Bepp might have something to say
about that. They're now on the CT side of their map. They're spell Alex. This is it.
A nice Duel Barrettas. Your name or he represents the devil. Which one is it?
Probably a name thing, yeah. I'm going to rename him to Alex 0113 though, if you want to get one.
No, no, no, no. Come on. Let's go. Oh, this is a famous which set set up
Kansas or Kansas or has it found out an immediate headshot but a cent feels good for flamesy. I was like, can't see sore
shots
Anymore. Yes, he can't low a sequence from a cent. You I could still will be all for naught
Come on Alex. This is it. Oh, they're faking. Yeah
a 16 year old kid who's getting to travel around the world. He's in America. He's out here playing
against Vitality and he's putting on a bit of a show, so that's nice. Okay, so Vitality will take
the economical, a couple of Deeds, a couple of Glocks, and an annoying decoy. I might actually be
shredded here, but Vitality have taken the conservative option to bring the guns out quickly
to the next. So that one is done. They haven't wasted too much of anybody's time and now the
investment will come through. They will have established the fact that was the eco so they
know that those AKs will be equipped in their face in a moment and how many rounds can they
string together. We know the T sides at least on and if I knew it has been a little bit worrisome
for Vitality again, I will continue to bring the context of yes, they haven't been practicing for
the last week or so but they are warming into things. Flamesy in the window and top cat in play as well.
Sissy up and into the van, he's got his AWP and he's looking for the fight.
Oh, and fight he shall, on to Zywin with a nice opener, aim, movement, and some productivity on display.
Other than Kensi's not getting an enemy kill against the Eco just there, the only man who's delivered them has been Sissy.
Yeah.
That was his fourth, so he's gonna make it more difficult.
Rob's well aware of the sandwich by the looks of things.
But how he brought that one out, he has.
I think he saw the knee when he crouched.
There might be a little knee over extension of the knee.
Apex gets the info, still Alex gets a kill.
You're spewing about that one.
Pretty closely.
Kents is all down after one, finding Rops is big but messin' quick to the trade.
Woo, he's quick to Ascentiol 2.
1v1, 2v1, 1v1, has he got another one in him?
Sissi's been clutching, he's been closing.
16 frags, he has Vitality and a flick up.
He can't be stopped.
Good stuff.
He's having his game 17 frags. He's at the top of the table in the server.
Yeah, he's the opener in the closer right now. That's his third 1vx situation.
How can you not be G in him?
Yeah, it's a lot of fun.
And as you said as well, you know, you have to kind of put yourself in his shoes and realize just how special this is.
Strong individual performance. Look at this move, but look at this kill as well.
As I would pull the trigger first as he just had the AWP and he clutches up with a nice flick.
You win the next gun round and you're gonna start pissing Vitality off.
So, they're working towards it.
Interesting to see a couple of AKs in the mix on this one.
So, knowing that Bait had been softened up financially,
they want to continue to apply that pressure
that MaxLossBurners going into the next.
With this type of investment, I would love to see if I'd try to get the plant
to keep the buys flowing, at least in the full department.
Apex already a lot of space under window.
Wow, he's taking this in me.
OK, finds the first blood.
MPL might be in trouble here.
It's kind of committed. You can jump into the ladder room if you need to get out.
Never mind.
Yeah, it was always going to be tough, right? They could go down a man, so you're trying to draw back the fight, too.
Good shot there from Kenzie's auto, still just make it a one man.
And now...
Sissy's just made it a 3v3, so back in it!
That's a great catch!
Removing Robs when he's on his active lurk, that's another impressive feat.
Going through that
That's the invitation a look at Sizi's in the flow stay right now
Yeah, he is pushes up ramp and is solo responsible for the asian
You're not going to expect him to have taken ramp control you assume his ticket or maybe he floated back to jungle so
Sizi may have won the round with his positioning alone. Let's see. Can't continue this life game. Yes, he can catch is another apex goes down trade from
Saibu lethal
Now we are gonna see the plant go down and it looks like we're gonna hear that
The rotation's through, he's got the jungle rotate completely cut off, so it is going to be chowed through CT, which is why Flamzy has starlanced as he's AWP and puts himself on the line.
Well, but staying on this line now, he's going to be committed if they cross Ticket side, so he needs to hit the shot.
Backing his aim, fully concentrated.
This is what guys leisurely walk into the crosshairs of that sniper rifle.
I don't think Ascentuil's going to have too much to say about this one.
I know Kiddie there.
I said shot onto Flamesy, it's not planted for Zywoo, but he has you on the cross and
you didn't have the kit.
F1-11, bait 5.
Maybe a little bit of disagreement there, but, or maybe misunderstanding, I wouldn't say
disagreement.
But Apex just making sure Messi understood what the situation was, is, alright, the game
is essentially one in this next round of play.
I know people might be remembering the game of Legion versus NAVI craziness that we had yesterday
but right now we're two famuses at one and four and two MP9s and the lost bonus is in the bottom of the barrel
but you lose this one and the game goes with it.
Curious to see why Apex is cool when he knows there's so many ramifications to winning it.
He's feeling himself as well Apex, have you seen some of the moves that he's making?
He's playing some odd angles too and hitting some big shots, I'm with 18 frags for him.
No CZ AWP.
Yeah, I can't help but feel like that might be costly.
So much impact.
The only real impact from Bait has been with that CZ Sniper.
Yeah, you can attribute at least three of these five rounds to CZ alone.
Right.
Well, not alone, alright, to CZ, let me stay in the realms of reality for a moment.
Well, they were expecting some type of a mid-aggression. They didn't get at least what they had prepped for and now they
Head back towards A to set up an execute. Just take a look at the sheer amount of utility that Vitality have, right?
All the smokes will be in play. They're gonna have the Molly for under balcony. They can use one to stop the bench crawl
You can Molly ticket as well. This is quite a luxury.
Well, it's a coordinated execute.
Alex gonna try and pick his moment off to the flash. Thank you, Carving.
Panas can't hit it. Can't hack it. MPL is towards the stairs. The Molotov limits his parving.
Tensizort trapped a ticket behind the flame. Still no plant though. Flames you go for jumping up to clear Tensizort.
Sizi good for a trade and a nice flick up to the head by landing Robb.
16 seconds Zywoo finds the necessary kill that will enable the plant.
Good from MPL. Finds Zywoo but the bomb does go down. It's Mezzi and Apex.
They're 2 on 2 versus MPL and essential.
essential. Upon the stairs,
MPR trying to close the gap.
Mezzie's holding for this, though.
He's going to have the master win.
Apex clutching. Yeah, that's a denial.
It does get close. You can't deny.
Comes down just to the 1v1,
but Apex able to pick up the 12
and also condemn bait to a very
ugly force by out of the game.
Yeah, no money here.
Going to be famished as an MP9 again.
Maybe 5-7 is going to be the choice for some,
but the binds are starting to take shape.
This, you think Alice has to win this fight.
I understand he didn't necessarily have to jump on Flames, but Flames he was worrying about a lot.
Stairs wasn't actually smoked or mollied off either, until later in the piece, so it did look a little bit difficult.
And I understand why Messi wants to take that, because one player is going to keep Apex contained.
Messi just has to win that 1v1, and then it should be round, so he did apply a little bit of extra pressure to Apex, but he is having a good map.
A ramp aggression.
And nobody home, so from an A execute now into a B execute, it's MP on the balcony.
Sizi, trying to get over there in time.
NPR's going to have a lot of work.
He's been with Nades and he's playing committed.
He's tucked in.
High for two of them.
Oh, to make it clear, it messes you up.
Ah, there he goes.
Flames, he runs it.
Sizi, map 10, just shredding heads.
And that should be the end of our first map of this series.
Another bracket final for Group 8.
Looks like two best of three from the day. Looks good for Vitality.
that woman into things nicely on. That is a dominant one. 13 to 5. Sizi Asandal. He is at the top of
the tables in a 35 loss. This young 16 year old one for the future, but will it be the future of
this series? That's a discussion for others. It's Dust2 up next and that's Vitality's big.
And we know how dominant they have been on this map throughout this year. Last three months, 93%
win rate. We'll give you all the numbers after that, but it's hard to be able to sit here and go,
oh yeah, they had this chance. They were never really in that map, Bate, were they?
Just a couple of highlights as you outlined from Sizi, but let's throw this one to the desk.
When are we going to full veins? Where are we going?
Actually, clip that, we'll play that later.
Thanks so much Chad for the entertainment and thank you so much Vitality for making this a quick and easy game.
I think that's exactly what we expected coming into this matchup versus bait couple of moments in this game
Yanko where bait maybe had an opportunity to make it slightly closer. We saw impact coming in from sissy
We saw a couple of crosses going their way
But at the end of the day at no point did you really think that I tell you we're not going to win him?
No, Jacob, you're absolutely wrong like this game was over after I saw the first gun round and
Then the round right after that, which I don't know how to call and I saw them save
three AKs in the first gun round and then two AKs in the following round I'm
like this is over like there's nothing worse I know how teams keep doing this
like yeah guns are cool you know like you're more likely to get a kill with an
AK armor than you are with a P250 no armor but it's also like money is even
cooler trust me right and then when you end up saving those guns obviously
don't get money bonus and then you have a mixed buy in the next round and then
you're gonna lose that right because they have everything like just take the
hell. Just go die, try to get a couple of kills, try to keep some pressure on their economy,
then half buy, do a hero AK, right? Like the economy matters in the bigger picture and
more in the long term, because this way in the first four or five rounds, they didn't
have anything. It was just mixed buys. They didn't know what to do. Vitality was owning
them, got all the momentum and that was it.
It's a huge risk not to go for the money instead of the guns you need.
Yeah, I mean, that was one of the things is that, you know, like Shankar saying that, you know, you're limiting yourself in resources by saving. And I think the problem with Bay unfortunately is that they actually don't need extra encouragement to not buy resources.
They're a team that I've seen multiple times in previous demos and on the Mirage specifically where they either use a lot of their utility on the mid fight, focusing on trying to force an entry that way, or they just don't buy the utility that they need to breach into bomb sites.
You know you're against the best team in the world here if you're thinking that you could just simply run out and out aim them
I just I don't I think they need a reality check in that sense speaking of utility
You may have round six was one that you wanted to point out because the simplistic style of bait is not gonna cut it against vital
It's just absurd to me that they come in with so I think they have two nadesets in this round since he gets an opening
Pecky had an insane game to be quite honest for bait and they have a smoke coming into this B bombsite
But Messi slides in gets two kills and even though this ends up being Bates first round win
So to speak within that T side it you could just tell the that they don't prioritize that as a means to entry
Yeah, I think it's just been tough
The problem the problematic thing is as well like it's simple when to save on the T side
You save on the T side when you're buying the next round anyway, right?
And you don't want to expand the money that you have
Round 6, Yumi, we run it one more time.
Yeah, so I mean, you can see the Nades on the side there. They have two sets of Nades.
The Rops is going to swing from short. Sizi gets this entry, and this is Rops maybe overplaying
his hands. Typically, if they're going to approach from middle, Vitality likes to breach
that together. But Messi plays a really conservative angle, and they just don't use their smoke.
They're so fixated on the idea that Messi will play in the site because they lost mid
control and there you can just you can see that there's no interplay between
these players. Sizi is on an island they're trying to play crossfires around
this smoke that they later deployed into market and it's not for the fact that
that Sizi is able to sort of continuously draw the attention of all these
Vitality players I just think they lose this after plot. Yeah I like the fact that
we get an example of a round you know where you're not necessarily happy
with the way they approach it. They win it regardless but there was one of the few
rounds they won in this game. You know the following round Yanquo another
one not going the way of of beach which was at the time very much needed. Yeah and I was also
disappointed with how timid they are you know you're going up against vitality and just playing
some slow default trying to you know get some space and you're doing that when you had saved guns
right and not all utility so it just looked horrible so once we do get into this round we'll
see a bit of an example how potentially they tried to switch it up just a little bit but in
in the grand scheme of things right now Vitality were just super on point and we're doing much better because at the start here
This is the reset round. They run out for a faster mid texture. So, okay, cool
They're doing something a little bit more aggressive at the very least but once they do establish this mid control
That's where things start falling apart
Yet again, right?
Zywoo is going to play connector with his AWP. He's going to just punish
Kensi's or spamming here through the smoke, immediately going to a flash play for Flamzy.
He gets one kill, doesn't even see the second guy really, but Xyvul finds one more.
Flamzy, and it's just a clinic from these two all single-handedly sort of dismantling baiting that from.
And that's what, as part of the, you know, these two rounds back to back, it kind of shows the comparison between how the teams prioritized their resources.
Vitality, we see all the interplay that they do. We see all the flashes that Apex sets up.
third side with the HG's that they use. They make their lives so much easier in that way,
where I feel like they almost try to win by hard mode. And you're just not going to out-aim these guys.
I know the opposition in this game, you know, is not the highest quality when you compare
Vitality as an opponent. Obviously, they're used to playing against the best team in the world,
but there was a time where we argued if you were to find one loophole in the map pool,
it could potentially be Mirage. As of late, we've seen them playing more and more Mirage,
and we've seen them be a bit more successful. Would you make the case, Yankee, that Mirage
as a loophole, or maybe as a weakness in Vartellis' map pool, is no longer the conversation,
and that conversation is maybe now still in towards new?
Well, perhaps to some extent, the problem is, you just look at their map pool and everything
looks so good.
Mirage was the only one that stood out for a little bit, and perhaps teams fall into
that trap, but they just look at the stats, you know, what's their Inferno like at the
moment?
No one knows really, because they haven't played it in ages, so maybe we see some teams
become creative and start testing them out, but definitely it's always the case if a team
is weak on a map and gets targeted a lot, well then they play it a ton and they get
more reps and they get better on it and they understand how teams are sort of abusing them
and we see that with a lot of teams, a lot of different maps and I wouldn't be surprised
if that's what's happening here with Vitality as well.
And I do think a lot of teams just simply aren't confident enough in their Anubis to
really pick it into Vitality because they've actually punished teams that historically
have been very good on that map. And so, you know, you enter this sort of black box where
they don't play Anubis a ton, and then you're forced to play the maps that are typically
seen in the rest of threes. They'll veto that out if they want and sometimes just float
the ancient and see if they can anti-strat a team that they maybe spot a vulnerability
or two.
Now, it wasn't all bad for Bete. If you were to find a positive, then Sissy, you know,
with his individual performance right here on Mirage, even though that it didn't culminate
it in a lot of rounds one, you know, he was capable of winning a few crutches and making
sure that they got a few rounds on the board but to see him play better and better for Bait I guess
that's also a good thing for them you know in terms of them recalibrating and getting back
into contention at these tier one tournaments. Definitely wasn't the passive one in this game
right like he woke up a little bit later but established some dominance on this map and I
think that's the recipe for Bait like what he was doing sort of letting it loose a bit being just
aggressive, trying to use his individual skill, right? I don't think bait is the position where
they can play these slow paced games against Vitality. They'll just be one step ahead, right?
So play with some more pace, take more risks for you that can be the only way sort of to victory.
I just want to see them throw some grenades for each other. I do think that there's a role issue
here where almost there's this confidence, this bravado from all the players where,
you know on on good teams as you rise to the ranks people do have to play support roles that just
simply has to be something that someone slots into eventually and I just don't think that that's
actually properly ironed out for the bait system. Well let's bring that into to the
conversation in the context of the next map. Dust2 is coming up, we know Vitality's strength on that
map, we know the track history, we know that that's one of the maps that they almost seem unbeatable on
to some extent. You want more grenades, you want more utility, is that a key territory for your
human? Well I mean so long as we're not just throwing them all over the longhouse then I do
think that there's a possibility here. I mean, this is the type of map where you can brute force
into bomb sites a little bit because CTs are actually expending a lot of their HGs to blow
up in smokes. They will maybe have to flash into the upper tunnels just to get information. Same
for the long fight as well. So they can feel quite restrained in that sense. And I think,
for bait, it's all about simplification. Like you said, you want to see them take a few risks.
Vitality will respect the map to a certain extent, but if you start playing this timid, passive style,
then they're the ones that are gonna get away with some of this risk-taking.
I'm not gonna try to beg you into giving me a reason as to why
might gravity can lose this game to Bate and why we're gonna see a third map.
Nothing really points in that direction.
I think just complacency.
Complacency?
Just complacency?
Sort of if they get ahead of themselves a little bit and maybe lose some discipline.
But that's where the Apex steps in one more time.
You know, I don't think he's gonna allow for something like that to happen.
AXTA is obviously as well standing behind and this is just their playground, right?
Like every player is just so comfortable on this map that they don't need to do like crazy stuff to have fun on it
They just have such a great understanding on the map like winning is always fun
And I think if they just play their standard game vanilla for vitality on dust too
They have it in the back
This is gonna keep up that performance though if we want to have any reasonable talk about bait having a chance of this map if you
Can do anything to mitigate zywoo or at least pick off some of his teammates then yeah
Maybe we can have a conversation, but that seems very far away.
I think I shared the sentiment with the two of you.
The best we can hope for is a competitive map between bait and Vitality.
There's no doubt that Vitality are the heavy favorites heading into Dust 2.
One more win and they will secure a spot in the playoffs.
West for bait, they would have been eliminated from IEM Atlanta.
We're heading to a short break, but once we're back,
it could be with the culmination of Vitality taking on bait.
The game is gonna be so fun!
Go go go!
Sample my you faggot!
What a guy!
The pounding horror of these four beats are here to come to each other.
Now the double beat is getting it's job done!
They're put in a battle before!
Sometimes you can't say that you're gonna get this beat back.
That's it!
You gotta get some!
We are back!
The dispatch is back and looking better than ever.
Oi! Get on the move on, you know we are!
This season it's bigger deliveries.
Tonight you go bigger personalities.
A vision way of working.
And bigger problems.
Trace!
Featuring special guests.
Alex, what the hell is happening?
And of course, the team you know and love.
Is this really necessary?
There it is!
100,000 dollars!
I had enough of you!
The Dispatch, the all-new season, premieres February.
So I'm stood here with Arch from Bait. First off I'd like to say thank you so much for taking the
time because I know you guys have a very important game coming up against Vitality.
You guys went through a bit of some struggles for a little bit, finding an AWPer, finding consistency.
I will be honest, I did not rate your team very highly coming into this event, but you've had some extremely impressive wins.
How has the practice and the team play been developing in your opinion?
I think we try our best to develop all the time. We just try to progress.
I understand that some people expected more from us after the last major run, but since
we had a change, we understand that we might do two steps back, sorry, one step back to
make two steps forward.
So that's just fine.
We're trying to progress event by event and basically we're just doing our best.
You're the CEO of Bait, it's not often that you see CEOs always travelling with the team,
what's it been like from that end and being able to stand with this squad as they make
a great run so far this tournament?
The thing is, I myself, a former pro player in both CS and Valorant, so yeah, it's just
insane to keep travelling with the team because I just cannot live without these emotions.
The first thing, second thing, yeah, I just like travelling and yeah, that's just part
of my life.
This might feel like a weird question given who you're against, but how confident are
you feeling going up against the Vitality given that you actually played Betboom earlier
in the tournament and pushed them quite hard and they were able to topple Vitality and
you were able to take down another one of our favourites in foot.
It feels like you guys are hitting a stride.
How does it feel for you?
I think that Boomblade played really good against us, but we also didn't play our A-game far from our best game, that's for sure.
So I think if we keep up the same form as against BC game and today against FOOT, I think we have some chance,
even though Vitality is like the best team in the world, they are too good.
But if some teams can beat them from time to time, then we can get our chance also.
So yeah, we will just try and see how it goes.
Well, thank you so much for your words.
I wish you the best of luck in the game.
We'll see how Bait do against Vitality.
Best in the world.
You heard it there from the amount of Bait.
And now, well, they've got to do something
that very few teams in the Counter-Strike world have done.
and that's Windows 2 versus Vitality.
You want the numbers?
Yeah, I do like numbers.
I do like numbers.
So I usually go of all times.
Let's start there.
This five-man Vitality roster are 49 wins, five losses of all time.
49 and five.
But if you just look at 2026, they're 18 and one, and the only loss they had to was
to foot with the coach standing in.
Yes, I remember that one.
Which is just so stupid, isn't it?
It's always the way.
Let's go this one underway. Complacency was the word the desk used to describe the undoings of Vitality into map number two.
Or the potential undoings. It's hard to see it go down that way, but let's see.
Stranger things that happened.
City side start for Bate.
They'll get to play all 12 of them on this map.
Speaking of Stranger things, let's see if Alex can start stronger.
0 and 11.
On the right.
shot there from Flamesee so not the ideal starts.
Sissy though, he had a great time on Mirage,
he won't be having a start on Dust2,
so I always put it down long range clock.
And that'll be the round.
Yeah, we saw them during the warm up,
everyone was kind of doing like a show
and tell their skins on long.
Flamesee, I'm taking a look at Sissy's knife
and now dropping each other the M4s and the AKs,
it's quite a nice vibe out there.
Sissy's gone for the lime green set,
you know, everything has got that kind of
match to his green gloves.
I don't know about a Sanctil's combo there.
What's he going for?
It's like, it's like leopard print gloves.
I like it with the jewelies,
but I feel he was dropped those jewelies.
They're not his.
Yeah, but it is a lot of clashing pattern.
Yeah, and same with the knife.
It was like a caramba.
This is nice.
It was a pink combo here for Kenseth's wall.
I like what Kenseth was doing there.
Yep.
Oh, well.
I'm not the most fond of the whole blue-red situation
we've got here.
That's very contrast.
Which team are you on?
Yeah.
Here we go.
Red and red from, yes.
This isn't messing around.
Scale is a nice, quite a nice gnar.
Yeah, it's good.
Oh, and Zai was gone very fun, boy.
Yeah, wow, look at that.
That's vibrant.
New gloves.
Gotta be careful, though, right?
Players will be able to tell who you are by your gloves.
I think there should be a rule.
Every one of the team has to use the exact same skin.
Yeah, otherwise you'll have to go, red gloves, red gloves.
There's a 30.
Oh, dear.
OK, come on, bang.
Just give us a little sun-sun.
I think Australia's game of the region will be close.
I expect a real three map affair with that one.
I thought we were gonna get foot versus vitality,
but Bate owned foot.
They did.
They two owned him.
So, you can't put anybody's fault other than foot.
Yeah.
Oh, missed the hinge smoke.
Oh, the scout would actually get a little bit
of a sideline if you had it.
Ah, it still worked.
Okay, it looked like it was the hinge smoke,
but either way it's still puffed up.
Flash of the ready, fight on shore, here it comes.
big biff, it braw. Okay, wow, we've got three players getting
flashed in here. He picks Tanti though. Oh, they get flashed.
They've passed each other. Alright, come on, Sizi. There he
goes. Okay, two zero stuff. If I tell him.
And so, we were out of the bath and there was this guy, he came
up to me.
And they were completely blind?
It's just this puppy dog energy that we're getting right now.
Oh, this is lovely.
Look at that camera.
Well done, production.
Oh, dear.
I don't think you're allowed to have that much fun at your job.
Come on then.
So that was when your job's slow.
Kenzie's always having some fun.
feel perhaps not and very quick return from the mentality from the divine
against still quick on the Mac 10 6 and 0 start I reckon we I don't know if we have fun at our
job all the time but I reckon more often than not and there's one key reason that
we do that these players do not what is that we don't win or lose that's true
we do not no matter what happens we are in a neutral state yes we will never
feel as good as they do sure but we can never feel as bad as they do exactly and
I'll take that that's any day of the week it's a trade-off but you as a
competitor you don't get that adrenaline that's for sure that that does suck but
you know how it sucks getting knocked out of a tournament and then having just
sit there on a 15 hour thinking about it that's something I'm glad we go on the
CAC though that they'll be in CAC of course it's so that's a way from home for
I don't know if they'll go direct or not. I'll share the dates, but Susie's got his all, but that's like that. We like Susie with the all.
I'll just go into a short. That's exactly it.
Make sure that Susie can't pop holes in those mid smokes.
They are just starting to stand at 2-3.
Kenzoa sent you're doing this in vogue, up-down set-ups to deal with anybody probing P, getting ready for those pops.
But this cluster of vitality...
...the buzzing to execute.
Those flashes are going to be great for Anzaiwood to do as easy as he heads back.
So can they stall them out?
We're going to catch MPL as well.
Forced to tuck in.
Oh, flying. Flame C5s the opening.
Apex on to MPL and the A site is theirs.
Very little you can do.
I guess the main objective now is don't die to Robs if you can avoid it.
Because he is in such perfectly timed pursuit.
You've just vacated the B ramp.
You've been spotted in the window and Robs can just have your hands with a clean click.
That's gorgeous.
Yeah, yeah.
All right, might be a quick one.
Might be a quick one.
We've got the clip ready though, so it's fine.
Yeah, we could play that again, play it again.
I think the figure that I saw on the little lower third was 33 consecutive playoff appearances
for Vitality as an Org.
That's not with Rockstar, we've got the Mad Spinks as well.
But to take people back in time, it was kind of it's a 2024 was the last time they didn't
make playoffs.
So there would have been some history being made today if, well, the score was going the
other way. And then they would have had their top four streak broken as well. That could
still happen, right? Their top four streak can still be because they can only be in the
quarterfinal, right? They don't get the auto birth into the semis. That for this group is
being battled on between Bet, Boom and Pain right now, who I think are going to be heading
into their second map shortly. CT set up just so everyone's aware. We did get it in the
last rife around and you got it very plainly, but it was Kenzo and Senthi 11 towards B.
Alex the again little be anchoring down long MPL will be the rotating a rifle and then of course is he on the op apex
Can you take these away? Oh?
No shot from kensies all I like that one right between the eyes I we're gonna try and stall them out from picking up the AK
I've already got past this oh
They were past I was dodging ducking and
Check it out of the way
Okay, well at least you get the AK for MPL. Yeah, that's nice
Well, they are going to be buying into the next round regardless, but at least I prefer this than the T side start where they had those saves
Which just put them in a pit
I think Alex wants to go down anyway. I really want to retain a scout
So he will be able to a full equip himself
I also want Alex to get a kill a little bit earlier on than he did last time right now
We have Kenseth over three and everybody else on nil
Oh
Very reminiscent of the first map
Mmm, says he's got the sniper though. Second time we've seen the AWP in his hands. Let's see if he can find a similar impact that he did on Mirage.
Oh, she's so perfect now.
And wanted to go for the flight too. It wasn't just to have wanted a lower Tunnels push. So the fact that they've fluffed out whenever Slice is not going to cost them anything, but we know how good Zaru can be.
He knows tags on the cross.
And so it learns this time and claims he roms paired up will be getting through the lower tunnels
So they feel the assistance of apex required to throw the molly into lower dark to finish one out
What do they feel like they can do it on their own?
This couldn't be any more of just a standard dust to set it right now just a two one two, right?
This is so classically dust to
They don't doing anything out of the box. Maybe mid rounds
They might want to start grouping up and see if they can find that this setup
I like right where you have one player on the ground with
Oh, he's actually going to play Goose, never mind.
Hold away as well.
Yeah.
You can see MPL's attention drawn by the flash through the doors.
Vitality, just 60 seconds to try and access the site.
Starting with their more advanced short control up, Kat.
I wonder if it's...
Yeah, okay, so it's going to be late back through long.
This will actually be tough because this is on the line, so Apex better be a damn good
flash.
Oh, smoke's good.
Yeah, he's going to play around the edge of it, though.
That's nail onto flames in the tracer on there as he couldn't find the frag he looked for
and says he just dips back in for a second.
Now it has to be a mid to B but you don't even have a smoke for CT.
It's not looking good, is it?
Tunnels have just been reached 30 seconds.
Yeah, maybe you're safe.
Safe?
Yeah, right, look, you have a lot of money, but great work from Sizi.
He found the answer.
Yeah, okay, well, I'm gonna return to late long and Sizi just lingers around.
It's good to see that confidence.
The death was also highlighting how this could be, you know,
win condition having to throw. I don't want to say the strap book out the window. He didn't
even take any crazy risks there. He just took his chance that was presented to him in that
situation. So well done from Sizi. Arch gives us the fives. And five to one is the score.
So there you go. They're on the board. And we just need a whole lot more of that. So
Really, from our position, we're looking for consecutive.
Here it is again.
Flush comes over, using their smoke against them, peers out,
Flamesy got us down, and got the stubbornness to stick around.
Doesn't want to back off as he removed from the equation.
I mean, that's what good Counter Strike looks like.
Looks easy.
Okay, this time starting with a little bit of virtual presence from MPL.
But more of the same from Vitality with their openness.
dizzy, suddenly all the middle, has himself a hater break, all comes down to the timing
on this.
They're not going to catch anybody.
Oh no!
Get off the grass!
I'm sorry.
Apex, that's, I think that's unacceptable, uh, expect a formal apology.
Get off the grass.
I'm trying to really embrace my age.
I mean, you're gonna see me walking around with one of those, like, bowl-a-capsu or whatever.
I'm just behind his back.
I do that all the time.
You do that, eh?
Legitimately.
Make sure I get my fiber in for breakfast.
Yeah, yeah, of course.
Have some prune juice.
This doesn't feel like a match for the spot in the quarterfinals, does it?
Alright, mid-to-B.
Santhul, is he clear?
No.
He's not.
Flamesy.
He killed, uh, Distracted, and now Apex has got a lot of work to do, there is another one, he actually nearly killed MPL
Through the smoke, unconfirmed, but he gets away with one point of health, and there's nothing more for these two to do other than save, it's the best bet
Get off the grass!
Okay, distinct lack of frags, we've got one, two, three
two eggs. Good we can count. Yeah. Base level mathematics around here. So CAC anyway. It's
a tournament. There's seven teams who are in Atlanta who are going to be going to CAC.
That's going to be happening in Shanghai. So we'll get to see more bait before the major.
There's so many events on the lead up to the major. I feel like the major is like tomorrow
and there's still it's two weeks away. Yeah, there's so many events still. June 2nd stage
one kick a star is still kicking. Yeah, I'm telling you we've got CAC and then then
the main course main course we've all been waiting for yeah look at that that's
yeah get off you're upset about that well i'm upset about that tactical timeout call from bape
that should be scissor yeah it's gonna happen enough let's counter shot really isn't it apex
is literally twice his age. Crazy, actually, yeah.
Who's he coming up next? He's been molding a lot on cam, which
considering some of the frustrations, I don't mind the
mold. Justifiable mold at times. Yeah. He's been let loose,
That one from yesterday. If I can get my hands on that tape.
Right, the full like 60 second rant.
Okay, double ops. Let's go, bait. That's the changer. That's off the time.
And that's what we're looking for right now. Zai will drop down suicide, rattles off a shot, and...
It's probably going to be a late long pop.
Ooh, okay, but there's no scissor to worry about this time. It's going to be on the last second.
Flash has come in. Alex just going to spam the smoke. Does some significant damage to two of them.
Flamesy and Mezze catching bullets.
Barrel spotted.
Oh, he's starting to jump up. Oh, still!
He gets the headshot onto Sizz, he couldn't react in time, as I would go through middle and essential.
Caught in a transition, was just making his move.
Wow, I'm unable to keep up with how quickly Vitality are winning.
Guys, what are we doing? I've never heard of either of you.
Like, what are we doing?
No, no, we're doing, but we're gonna go out for dinner, you know?
Okay, skip-vlog review.
Thank you, review.
Get back.
And round.
Alright, that's 7-1.
So, I hasn't killed anyone on the cross though, so if you're looking for someone to celebrate...
Get him, Sizi.
Aggressive AWPing from Sizi, he's gonna be looking towards the lower tunnels, it's romsome flamesy on the default parling.
Oh, they're gonna get Molly.
They're trying to get down by Molly.
Oh, yeah.
Nothing from top mid yet.
So I haven't synchronised perfectly, says he.
He's in trouble. Still hit a nice shot onto apex, kens is all trapped.
And then goes down to Flamesy.
I appreciate the gear shift trying to bring the fire.
At least you had something for V4.
Yeah, it's a nice try.
Can you show me some work with?
Flash on the smoke.
Pop flash, Rops was actually going to push on that, but then the altars catch him.
Did Rops get lost?
I don't know, was it a lay?
Yeah, I'm not sure what the hold up was.
Ooh, just in time.
Alex has a cross.
Mezzie is now going to arrive. He's got the perfect pre-game. It's just going to be Mezzie.
That turned and Alex is comfortable.
For bait in pursuit of this 2 on 4, it should be easy to close down unless...
Yeah, you didn't get all the balls done indeed.
Okay, that should be round.
Do you see the flames ace against a phase to end the game?
I didn't.
It was a bit of a line-up to it, but they're in OT and you get an ace in that close.
That actually wins the game. It's pretty cool.
ways to end it. It's they were doing a top play out, a lot of them lined up in the side.
It was not the sickest thing in the world, but I say that. I don't know how many professional
aces I got. I think zero. So because we did the situation, what not even like an anti-eco ace?
I guess Aussies for sure, but I guess like actual opponents. No,
don't even have that many officials. So this is it. Let's throw chaos into the mix. Yes,
that needs to be the recipe for success for bait. Doesn't have to just always be off the first
timing, but try and make it a bit clunky for Vitality. Don't allow them to be able to get the
map control they're looking for and then erupt on their timings. Do it on your own terms and
you may as well start swinging for defense. Again, this is a home turf for Vitality, absolute best
us two team. No doubt about that. Centiel tacked on a cross and he emotes on that one.
Oh, we're going to try it again. Kensil is going to push through up a bit.
Oh, they faked the Molly behind him. I like it. Yeah, still hits his headshot as well.
removes flamesy and well Sissy is still committed to lower tons right now he'll
have to smoke himself out or like suppose commit hang out
Apex's I were actually heading back over to what's been
and as he's foregoing this long fight with Alex
so they know one of the B defenders Kenzo is dead and maybe they have a good
idea that Ascentiou got tagged maybe he's saying hey I hit him
so he's very low you don't love this for Ascentiou if he gets one
Props to him.
Turns the flashbangs will have a chance in the fight.
Doesn't fit, hit that first bullet headshot he so desperately needed.
Oh, Messi's got Sissi's crawl here.
You think he's got the element of surprise?
He's even looking towards spawn, but...
Does Zaiwu's the one to move in?
Keep him at the post there, MPL and Alex.
You've only got one option in this one, friends.
Get on out of there.
There's still so many Molotovs right now for Vitality.
If they want to they just keep lobbing the window and doors but we'll get planted 40 seconds begin and the question becomes will they be the hunt
Are they allowed to save?
The school read 8 to 2
So if Vitality win their quarterfinal game they will have 22 consecutive top four finishes I
Know it's just accolade counting and I think they don't even really care about that
But history books remember and it's how we mark their greatness
I think the other point of that as well as is when they are on form and they are playing their best CS I
Guess this is a good series of that as an example
How much you want to say that's the quality of bait how much would say that's vitality starting to warm into things
I'll let you at home's aside, but you really get a good idea for just how
Cohesive this unit is the level of output from everybody. Well, especially when you know
So, looking at that foot result earlier today, they kind of, they rumbled them.
Yeah, they rumbled them comfortably.
It was always going to be a map pool for me that was the problem for bait today.
But against Vitality.
Because they remove Anubis, which is a map that we've seen a little bit of weakness for
Vitality on, and then Nuke's not high up in their map pool either.
So, Amaraj does two map pools, but best you're going to get it.
Yeah, and Vitality remove Ancient.
Alex, again, called upon on lock.
Gotta get out of there.
They started 3B.
And now Alex is calling for backup, Sizi is posted.
At least this MPL is back.
Nice.
They're pushing up the tunnels as well.
So map getting smaller for vitality, they should be aware of this reaction so they might
want to get a rig along.
I head to this block smoke.
Just running across.
Oh, Sizi's attention was drawn.
He looks away, bombs thrown across.
Alex, catches him on retrieval, trade from Robs.
lined up.
Kensizor, from now is Utah. Could have caught Mezzie given the low HP.
How's he gonna get in a plant right now? It's gonna be difficult.
I hate you. It hits Mezzie. I don't know who's bomb. Doesn't, though, and so that plant seems
like a guarantee. Kensizor's gonna be battling a little bit more.
Oh, that Molly's doing it.
Can actually wait, yeah.
Dead man.
It goes down. Cooked by MPL. Mezzie on the spray from Rops. Zai Wutroski.
Mox to the bomb.
To a one versus three, they can smoke bomb, defuse. Everything says there should be third
at four bait.
as I was mad now what's he supposed to do here
MP held down wow quick flick up but it looks like he's found that safe haven good angle
that is going to be a third round why is he starting to fuse again
just wanted to make sure he was tucked away there you go number three
now four at the half you'll take it
one obviously you lose the opener or you gain the opener again thanks to Sizi
Who is he's not doing the same hygiene so we saw him barrage, but he is still kicking up a little bit of a fuss
Funky 10 of events as well during that one the bomb thrown across and a little bit of a petty put up
Not too bad. No, I'm how comfortable you are. Yeah, I think the thing is you just want to get this done and put this group stage behind you
Then you're gonna get tomorrow's opportunity to really prep for your quarterfinal
where, no matter who they go up against, they are the favourites. Funny that. Alright, B-Pop
to finish, and there's three players here. This looks good. They're well positioned for
it. Oh, they're going to cancel now. So they're fortunate they have the rip call that is Zywu.
So with him controlling Midland, nobody trying to stuff him in that choke point, he does
actually allow his teammates to start moving.
And he's talking a lot, Sizzy. You can have to play behind this.
Still, if it is a mid to B, Kenzie's sent through an MPL still on that site,
but that three-man stack could still come in.
Oh, Rob's catching some flag from the Molly. He hasn't landed back flat.
He's still gonna have to save Haven. Is MfU up on that boost?
Oh, no.
Wow, doesn't get the kill he needed. NPL's the one that's racking him up from. The only man that could
put up at any sort of resistance on the B site. So, it dips away just in time to avoid giving up a
advantage. Would have been a 2v2. Instead, Vitality now sitting comfortably. You've got to have to try.
It's the last round of this half. Alex into a tunnel. Feels half-hearted, doesn't it? Well, give it a go.
Good flash. Very good flash. Forces out to pull the trigger.
up while blind on the repeak as well.
Simon on the repeaks.
Alex does remove Apex.
CZ could finish off SiWoo.
Track from Robs 1v1.
You need this.
You need it.
And you'll take it.
Does he have the kit just in time?
Alex with a 5-7 gives Bates something
to work with.
Four rounds versus Vitality's 8.
It's looking like it's going one way,
but Bate delaying the inevitable.
Three of the last four go in their way.
I know I'm done, but I don't know what I'm gonna do
And the open blue lights keep me up at night
Follow you to the dark
I'm no open blue light Keep me up at night
I'm gonna follow this park It was too much of a battle
Even though I've fallen I know we must go on
So this moment, what is what we will find?
Turn around and hear this call, what will come of you?
Tell me anything, can you come show me through your love?
I'm gonna go to my father's house
Father's house
I want you for me
I'm not ready for this
Go on, go on
I'm not ready to go to my father's house
I don't, I don't know
I'm not ready to go to my father's house
Forra
At first I'm off, careful, I'm short
I'm dead
B rotation player, I have a kill on short I think
I'm shorting him, let's be ready to go
Oh but that's short
Can you get him on the car?
Smoke CT
I flash as well, touch
And up mid
CT
Got no more kills
Go, go, go, go
Pick it
Nice
It was 7-1 but they have managed to wrestle 4
As we've swapped sides
Second map of this one
Loser goes home
Winner after the playoffs
And they're running straight up middle
Look at this, Flames is so aggressive
He's going to be punished, seriously, an opportunity for more unable to do so.
Kenzo puts two on the floor.
Oh, that's what we're going to split pistols again, unless Zywa and Apex can win a 2v4.
It's not out of the realms of possibility, is it?
The bomb's been picked up now by Kenzo, over the course of the side.
He's got a full bell.
This surely lines up for a nice finish.
The only way I see you lose this, if you allow it to be picked off one at a time,
if you just group up and trade out, you win.
So MPL, make sure nobody can push short.
Alex has the mid-door rotation.
Zywa and Apex are both over the wall today, so gambling incorrectly.
in this one. And they will group up. So they don't. Alex is lining up. Sorry,
Kenzo is lining up the door smoke.
Does the vitality approach on this pistol read like overconfidence to you?
Like a team that just wants to get it done?
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Which I think is fine.
Of course.
It just means that by operating in the way they did, the game is going to be
extended. Mm hmm. So it will be eight to five. So we're an apex. If they can
hold on to the Kevlar they can turn this into Famis' in the next round. Earlier
today against FaZe they both bought scouts who might have been forced by Ranzin and they
honestly managed to have a flawless force. It was it was quite wild. You don't see that
every day of the week. You don't. Especially with the scouts.
Alright, well we're splitting the pistols again. This time it's the T sides that
picked up those. Unfortunately for Bade in the last map it was Sizi who clutched
one hour. He had a great performance. If you are just joining us, you missed a quick mirage,
but one that I think if you're going to go and watch, watch it from Sizi's perspective,
it's just a lot of fun to see the kid having some impact. Sure, it didn't really account
for a lot of rounds, but it was still fun to watch.
I feel like, you know, for every big game we've cast, often there's a mirage and often
Sizi's at the top of the table is on that map.
Or the one that stands out, I think why you referenced Kendi's or he was just very explosive
around like jumping from Tetris over towards the stairs and playing up through connector
getting multi kills. Okay, so Zahua has gone the Famous. Apex has decided to upgrade into
head armor 5.7 with Util. But Mezzy's the one on the scout this time. So they are pressuring
along with a corner smoke and flashes, but Flamzy's played ahead of this. So they know
they have the long control. This is actually huge. So to be able to grab that early, your
next thing you worry about in this is a pop through. And as Util starts to don the rest
of the map, they can start to signify, okay, it's not going to be a long pop. It's just
It's just gonna be this default spread.
Ooh, mezzy. An opportunity to hit a tag.
Don't have short control just yet. They're about to work on our bait.
So they can only back short. Flames you a park behind it, so I was there to set him up with a flash.
Flames you a before staff by the deep Molotov.
So now four of them congregate over to wood short and well vitality have gambled for a B play
The biggest issue I see right now is flames in Zaheer not having any smokes to stall this
I don't know how they meant to defend against this AXE if you could all five
Well now you can give it a look right
I think that this point you could definitely jump up and try and contest maybe you catch somebody sleeping
He's still giving a go but 40 seconds on the clock now. Yeah, okay, you're gonna have to go quickly
Oh, it all comes down to NPL. He's two kills deep, but he's got no health
19 points of health a single bullet from the Mac 10 finds his head and vitality. No pistol
No problem
And they don't give a fuck
Yeah, I think the father just run out there and put those five sevens on display like that instant death
Is that the name of the water they sell instant liquid that's the one that would be a good sponsor
I think that's the new name of liquid. Um
All right, we'll pay it gonna force my back
I mean a very frustrating one to lose for bait when you feel like you kind of done the hard part you breach the site
You walked into the less stack stack
you still end up getting run out by five sevens and shredded it now they're going
long this time they're committing okay we've got the flashes ready primed and
ready oh headshot she's right away that's a down yeah yeah vision says he
sticking out their buns down to half so you know that there was a third one in
door and the somebody was flashing so you know where two of the last three
players are well you're not taking that one flames
I don't want to think Lil to be denied, cause it is quick, you're right, Apex is going to have his work cut out from here, he's got a head-to-head duel, but with Sizzly already on 40 HP, he had to hit that headshot.
He's provided it, now Robson and Mezzi are both on B.
It does make it feel rather inevitable that they're going to collide.
You'd love to get them.
Oh, I'll fight on your terms, instead it's Robs peeking out window, removing Kens' or showing off some pipe or...
Oh, I can't!
Yeah, and spot the toes of Syrup, still costs him his life though.
Can't find Sizzys, he's disappeared.
Just borries into CT and he's only got himself a P250, where does AK go?
This one would be a special one, wouldn't it?
I can't see one this round.
How?
I can't either.
Yeah, unless it was a one-sided power cut.
He's doing hide and seek right now.
Okay, yeah, prop hunt.
And, I think it is AK go.
Did he give it to Alex?
is there maybe yeah maybe gave it to Alex is a good point well made yeah Chad I
was I was looking at the start some of our next game and everything while I
was going on after the first two kills came in I went okay round over so I
was I was starting to get busy with something else so I was late though you
were absolutely bang on I did like this move and you got to kill with it so cool
way to play around that CT smoke I know there he could this would be 11
What can you say about this round?
Oh, you can say that was a great Digglehead shot.
That's what you can say.
Give us another one.
Leg shot through the door.
Got a gun now at least.
No armor though.
Spotted him there on the flashbang.
Flames, he's hearing this.
He's hearing this.
Flames, very low.
Yeah, jumping up would feel like it would be a bit of an over experience.
That's just a vitality eco-loss.
It could.
Like an appropriate eco-loss.
Really, really good.
I'm struggling. A whole mag is on that.
Oh no, that's not you.
What's wrong?
That's a rob.
I don't think I've ever seen this.
Everything's fine.
Mezzy catches Alec to the long side, MPL, however, with his M4 Pivot, they can run B.
It's sent to MPL of running in towards the B bomb site.
Have a smoke for Daws.
And look at the health of Flamesy and Mezzy.
There's a smoke for Daws.
They can get in.
The bomb will get plant.
They have a very good shot at winning this.
There you go.
Inverse Vitality would be an incredible achievement.
And they're gonna try and milk as much of this smoke as they can?
Okay.
Whoa.
Could have definitely been thrown deeper.
Are they saving?
Are they saving? He's picking up the ult. I think they're saving.
I think you're right.
I'm sure it has happened.
But I can't remember when I've seen Vitality lose like a proper eco.
A proper eco.
That was just one deagle.
Yes.
Alright, sign of the times.
Heading for ramifications. We'll see.
We'll see.
Why is Vex gonna be pissed?
That is one guaranteed ramification, good point.
He is the one who gave away the opening kill.
So if you're gonna be remiss, maybe it yourself.
I can't believe they just want to...
a flippin' eco.
Alright, well they're gonna manage this one,
because I would get Spad the Orb.
What us?
Yeah, but, you know...
Yeah, no, it's just...
you know, we were spacking it and that's all.
it and that's all. So, it's gonna love that one. Double orbs. So, still pretty heavy on the investment.
I can't believe I lost that. Oh, let's go. There goes one of the orbs. On the cross. Get back in it.
Let's go. That's cheeky. Oh, only tagged him. Yeah, it doesn't find the kill he needed. Okay, so,
Sizi, sure, he's the walking wounded. His biggest enemy's gonna be a Nade. It's rare to see Apex on
on the orc. You know, you scout? Sure. Guy can use the scope rifle, but rare he gets
the opportunity on the AWP, only when Robs is given up an opening death, which, as you
can imagine, is quite a rarity. Another one of those, well placed. Conk, 35, for Kensys
or Alex shipped away as well, softened up for the M4 headshot potential of Mezzie. They're
selling A essentially, like Zoe just watches long and they're giving them short control.
Flames is thinking he's going to get some sound cues before they make it into A, and
They also know nameplate camshot rops is dead so there's a likelihood that bait want
to hit what they believe should be the under fortified site.
Such a half-eyed one.
Yeah, exactly.
And there's nobody there to actually catch him that.
The flames should be mulled out of position here.
Well, they missed the molly completely.
Still though, you can just give up a sound cue back some way.
Chris Cross.
Hey, Pags, trying to catch him.
He's gonna get caught, yes, clunky indeed, overlooked his flames.
He's gonna need more than a molotov, he's gonna need the whole squad.
Double from Messi, sprays down for two, Flamesy arrives in time for that third,
as Centiel traded out and now Sizi doesn't have the health for this clutch.
He's got 20 seconds, flash lands, Flamesy playing the clock, he knows it's in their
favor.
This way till he starts to plan running down.
That's exactly what they're gonna do.
It goes for it.
It's in the air with drone, he's safe for it, but backs up into Zywoo.
So Vitality will take it, Messi does very well considering the absence of rops, he had
to do extra heavy lifting.
Yeah, now silly Apex looked at it as well, just getting stuck on the corner of the wall
and then parling through the smoke and going down.
But great job for Messi, right?
This is smoking a choke point, really, it's nothing any chance they had.
So you win an eco, you don't break vitality, and then you drop that one.
So immediately reset, but we'll buy it again.
MPL is going to use the AWP to go for a long pick.
So this is one way to try and manufacture an opening.
You can have company.
Apex on that corner.
And down.
Well, fully blind.
He actually gets a collateral.
You're right.
Flames.
He cashed his one through the shot onto Apex.
I've got him kill. As far as the checklist goes for posting a 7th, that's exactly what
the doctor ordered.
They've started down a man in almost every single round in this half, have vitality.
There's only one round they've actually been able to find the opening. Otherwise it's...
Still managed to win three.
So it's not always the win condition for bait, or the loss condition for vitality.
And once again they have just put Zywoo on an island.
Yeah, so you haven't actually got your expectation of frags this game, so we're going to let you
1v5.
Yeah, essentially.
Here they come.
You'll get them in time to at least take a shot or two.
a squad from bait versus I won't touch the flashes, can't hit the shot, Alex can save.
That's round.
It's just tedious, I think, from Vitality now.
And those frustrations, they're not there at the moment, but again, they continue to
make dents and the game extends longer than it should do.
That eco loss.
And he's opening deaths for Apex.
Yeah.
He's given away five opening deaths so far.
50% of his deaths been in the European department as one of them, collateral damage as well,
very well played by MPL.
Flames is happening what I would think just based on his stats has been the best map of
the tournament so far.
And they get to hear all five alive, they now have double ups on the T side, they've
been able to scavenge in M4. So all in all, they keep on cooking.
And that's what you're right, though. That's where the
frustrations will start to bubble to the surface is when,
you know, we've all been there when you kind of already
considered the game over. You already started thinking about
like, oh, what we're going to do next? We're going to play another
one. Yeah, I could do one more.
I've done it before. There's a match I played against. This is
just a Perth team. Yeah. And we had such a huge lead. So I just
kept calling fast tops on Nuke and we ended up, I think we lost
it over time.
Yeah, because it started, then you start having that conversation
Okay, maybe we should use it right now. Okay, we should take the seriously guys, lock in, and suddenly you're in OT.
Oh, the realm's a possibility. I do find that I've on guard double orb, kicking up up Zywoo corpse.
Yeah, that's the thing, right? You pick it up, you're gonna have to use it, so let's see.
How are you gonna utilize it? Look at this setup as well. This is a little unusual.
Flames the forward position with Zywoo.
Mezzie trying to keep attention.
Throw on the jump up, Alex gets a jump scare.
Yeah, you don't just want to swing into that line that we've really seen come through.
It's quite popular now playing two players.
I think Falcon's one of the first teams to start doing that.
That little cubby where the shutter door is.
I see a Niko there.
So this time they do get the opening kill.
Now it's about putting it in.
So Robson, Mezzie have a very up close and personal beat on a crossfire.
They're not really worried about the mid to bit at the moment at all.
You look at that smoke at your own risk.
And as it fades, Robs will tuck in, and as he can be spotting within a grenade in his hands.
We did see it? No, we didn't.
Doesn't matter if Robs can clean house.
I clean his shell.
Yeah, Sizzy was meant to hold the rotation.
Now it's the last man standing.
Cleans, deals with him, and there's 12.
So this one has been casual.
There's been some entertaining moments, sure, but Vitality will not be ending their playoff streak here today.
The top four, that's up for conversation once we do get to Friday, and another Dust2Winter
to the tally.
It looks like Xtaz's mic is not working.
He's had some trouble with his mic.
Yeah, that wouldn't be the first time.
Does he even really matter too much?
Probably not.
Maybe just our principal.
Yeah.
to say his 30s. Why is it why is not the boss man not saying anything? Oh, yeah. Okay. I see the angle
all that validation. Yeah, like tell us we're about to win.
All right. One Galil, three AKs and a scout a smattering of utile and Bates run here. I am Atlanta
going to a close. Yeah, both these teams remember when we started off today,
it's something in common both lost to bet boom.
Nice tag for Sizi to start, Nezzy, Limpick.
Long go.
Yeah, straight out. Flames you on the corner. Missed a long corner. Smoked. Flames you a swing in, and now extracts his head perfectly.
Opening kill. Apex down as well. Couldn't find the response.
Zaru's committed to the car position as well here.
An opportunity for Sizi to just pluck his head on the uncrouch with that scout.
He's actually been equipped now with the AK-47 out on the low HP.
says he got Zaru strings together too, and it does...
Can you see the scout connect? Zaru 4H is out!
That's so brutal, the fact he gets away.
They've fully committed to long, Mezzie's been summoned.
Zaru's gonna look like that's an overextension.
Oh, damn!
Okay, just trying to close it.
They really want it done, don't they?
Uh, Mezzie...
Oh, he's just juggling his own at double HE.
I guess he was thinking maybe...
Oh, okay, I thought he was giving it to Robs, but...
Yeah, he might be able to stop the plant with this.
That's exactly his plan, Mr. Birchell.
And it's all about the timing of this and the placement of this HE.
Is that your...?
Nah, he's planning single.
Which is no good for Alex.
What do they say? Where do they give it a go?
I think they might just give it another go here. Third HE.
And Roth starts to make his move, using that smoke, jumping up in his messy mantles in.
Kens is all puts it down. This is winnable.
Ascentil hits it.
Necessary headshot found and bait survive for the first of many.
And to the enjoyment of Sizi, they were able to pick up his AWP, or at least
Zawooz, to give to Sizi. So they have that to wield.
It's going to be a botched buy for Vitality as this one extends.
Ali's getting Zawoo down with the scout there.
But yeah, the long corner smack, this is Ali's gets the Ope now onto Flames. He then...
Apex, I can't remember the last time you had a kill.
He's having a lot of deaths at the moment.
He flushed his lines too and Robs has been tagged on the cross.
This is not the death at least, but brought down to 26.
So this game could have some more twists and turns.
If bait win this, they can get to double digitize.
We're in the hot water now. We're in the deep end.
We're at the business point.
A little bit of a sweet HE actually connecting to two.
I've inferred one of these stray bullets through the smoke to connect his meska spamming away on that scouting, so who are they next to receive on the A side?
And they know they have longs, so that does make things a little bit more comfortable.
The bomb's outside B though Chad, so is this just posturing?
Yeah, maybe they want to do one of those rounds so you drop kenzo into CT spawn.
It's hard to know what type of weaponry is really available to Vitality considering the loss bonus and these string of rounds.
Flames you push it into long doors, he secures that more so.
Also, Zahui cheats over to try and catch somebody in transition.
It does get the fight, it doesn't hit the shot, and PL.
Now the bombs joined, and they are heading towards Short.
Ooh, yeah, Flamesy pushing long on what could be the most perfect of timings, they just looked away.
Is that... Okay, they must know now, with the Short you take calming in, it has to be this A-play.
Look at all the flashes lined up, everyone with them in the hands!
Gonna be chucking them in, Apex inside, we're gonna be on the receiving end of that,
Scout, counter flash, Apex onto Kensen, all in.
Here comes that D-goal, can't track him, good headshot back!
Need the rifle, Zyra picks up the M4, trying to put it to good use and puts it to one.
Alex goes down, but still loses Mirzy.
He needs to do it all here.
Another one to Ascentiol, swaps out to the...
Gun game!
Another one! Gun game indeed!
It comes down to a one on one, and don't forget Sizi.
He's been able to clutch up on the first map.
Now jumps up, Rob's gonna call the bluff on CT.
Just calls the plan out.
Now starts his crawl.
Can he mantle up in time?
Sizi spots it.
Oh no!
They're jumping 5-7 for the conclusion.
Vitality not missing this playoff. They had a slip up but they do recover its bait sent home at the hands of Vitality
That's an unfortunate one there at fourth bait in the opening round
They took on bad boom ended up losing it two to one in that one with an overtime
There were some close maps they trundled through the lower bracket eliminating simple in BCG
They took on foot earlier today sent them packing to O but the final boss vitality a team
They wouldn't have been expecting to meet down here is too much to handle
It was a casual day at the Office for Vitality.
Sure, a bit of a struggle against FaZe on map number one,
but from that point onwards, it did look like a waltz
in the Centennial Park here in Atlanta.
They are going to put themselves a spot in the quarterfinals.
We've got a seeding match raging on now between Betboum and Payne
and coming up later on the B stream,
Nami versus Legacy for more of the same,
but we'll be bringing Astralis versus Gamer Legion
at 7pm sharp local for that final spot in the playoffs,
but the bait up next to CAC.
And look, it's great to see more of Sizi, or we're going to throw this one to the desk.
Yeah, unfortunately the end of the road for Bait, but we all knew it was inevitably going to happen.
But Adi making the lower bracket run, taking the scenic route to the playoffs.
Congratulations, Flamesy, thank you so much for taking the time to join us.
Um, is it weird having to play two games in one day?
You haven't had to do it for quite some time.
Yeah, last time was a bit weird, but the games were other than Nuke against FaZe,
quite smooth so it doesn't feel like such a long day. Was it just a way to get more reps after you
had this small break? I was thinking about it that after the first map against them maybe it's
actually a positive thing that we just have more maps and we kind of get to play more and warm up
and kind of gain form while playing and it could be a good thing down the line. It's not a secret
that you haven't practiced as much as you would like for this tournament. Can you feel that in
in the game that you get to play more and more maps now and you get more into the groove
the more you play?
Yeah, the communication is getting a lot better, obviously this side we lost a lot
of entries but I think the communication is a bit too rough on the beginning of the tournament
now it's a bit more like there is a kind of a ping pong, like someone says something,
someone repeats to him instantly and there is a bit more fun, like people are actually
thinking a bit more, I think with every game we're getting better and oh nice, two grand
Slime champion, yeah.
But it's getting better with every game definitely and it's going to be nice to play quarter-finals
instead of the semis, I think, because it's a bit more warm-up again for the stage.
I'm curious, because that's been a big point of conversation between us, but also the community,
the fact that you haven't practiced too much.
Is that the first thing that goes away?
Is that the communication, or is it also the feeling on the server, or how do you feel
it?
I think it's everything, like you're sloppy with your aim, like your aim is not that good,
And then you're not that confident and then confidence takes down the communication a bit down because you're scared to make
plays to propose ideas because you're less like, you know, you're less sharp and then it all gets together.
But I think the first thing is like the the the adverts are a bit missing and then you can't realize it in like, you know,
we haven't played so many maps for so long.
So it's tough to kind of click into the game.
What's with the pillow? That's new.
ESL wouldn't want me to talk about it.
I do want to ask about Yanuke, because obviously when we see an even slight issue from Vitality,
we have to talk about it.
He gives us nothing else to talk about.
How does it feel from your perspective?
Is there anything to kind of read into there, or is it just a case of you guys coming out
of a little bit?
Well, I think against Faze specifically, the T-Side on Yanuke is quite strong, so that's
why it was a bit back and forth from our city.
And then our big positive is we won more than two rounds today, so it's been a challenge
for a while.
So I think it's a bit tough obviously because Nuke is such a tactical mob and if you're not really sharp on your communication,
to some extent we have nothing prepped for this event, right?
So we have nothing new, we have all the same things cycled and somebody says like a month behind because we,
you know, like it was before Rio we prepped.
So we won Fort Worth on the engine of Rio and now the engine goes rusty a bit.
But let's say because we have some, we have day off tomorrow and I, I do believe that's
done and like the coaching staff has a lot of experience that sometimes we're, we had
a shit map in an event and by a day difference and not even practicing it, we, we became
really good at that map because just, you know, a few more ideas, a bit more like,
yeah, if you do that, I'll do that and, and it, it clicks like, like it was nothing before.
Okay, that's really interesting.
Um, just because you've obviously been on teams prior to Vitality where you were just
up, obviously I'm not saying you're not grinding on Vitality, you very much are, but
It feels like you've deserved these breaks, right?
You're one of the few teams that have actually afforded yourself this time.
Does it feel like a luxury to you to actually be able to do this and still consistently make playoffs?
It's very, you know, it's crazy to think about it because we're just,
we haven't practiced for a fucking long time and we somehow reached the playoffs and reached the
playoffs and reached the playoffs and obviously we want to make semis as well, so that's a thing.
But I think the team is just really solid on the energy department and just like being
stubborn and not losing and I think that's what gives us an edge whenever we play against
like maybe lower level teams are not necessary but just another team has an advantage on
us or the game gets really close. We know what we are capable of and we kind of click
on to our A game or B game even and you know it's in most cases enough and in Atlanta maybe
they're not the best pool of teams but in the end you know the plus is going to be very
similar to Fort Worth I think so there is going to be competitive teams. Obviously if
If you put us in Astana right now, I wouldn't know what we will be capable of, but I think
it's also good for us to refresh the playbook, play against different teams a bit, have a
different prep, especially when you don't have practice and it's rusty from before.
Just slightly curious as you mentioned Astana, this is the first time we've had two events
really overlapping, teams have managed to split.
Just like personally, are you keeping an eye on any of the results over there as well?
The time zone is just when we go sleep, the games start and then they end when we wake up, so it's a, I assume for you guys it's not that fun as well, so it's just not fun to, I mean there's so many good games but you cannot watch any of them.
Exactly.
So, but it's super cool, sometimes I go into Agile TV and I'm like, oh, you know, a spirit are playing someone and then I realize it's a different event and, but I think it's super cool to have those two events running at the same time.
Maybe it could have been cool if it was a bit more mixed because I think like well the game region Astralis are playing good
But us and Navi here, it would be nice maybe a bit, you know give us Falcons with Karrigan a bit to try him out
Yeah, what do you make of that by the way?
I think I mean, I think Karrigan is a big name IGL obviously so you never know how it's gonna click into any roster
It can be really good and it could be tough for them
But I'm not I'm not sure like I think they they will need a lot of time kind of because it's it's a new IGL
it's not a new player coming in.
So even if they do good now,
or even if they do really bad,
I'm not gonna take it as like a granted
that that's gonna be their form.
Maybe for the rest of the season,
they might play similar level to that.
But I think the main thing is the next season,
you will see what they're capable of
and if they're capable of really being like the new team.
Well, you made this one very quick for us Flames.
We've got 40 minutes for the next game starts.
Can you give us your thoughts on that?
We're gonna be coming game in the Asian-Australias.
That's a qualifying one.
Navi legacy, that's for semis.
You played the loser of that.
You do.
We played the loser of legacy Navi.
Yeah.
Oh, I could, I could, I mean legacy,
I think last time we played against them,
they beat us in the major in Austin,
that they broke our record.
It was last time, let's see.
I think so.
A double check.
But Navi, I think Navi were playing good,
they obviously bootcamped in, they bootcamped here,
so they have no excuse if they lose.
You said you have a day off tomorrow,
are you just gonna take the entire day off?
No, the day off is not official. It's crazy, but when we're so fortunate to have this problem,
but every tournament you have a long run, you kind of get to play all the games in the
season sometimes, and it's kind of tough to maintain and maintain, so every time we have
a day without official, it's a day off. Even if we have four practices, it's a bit of a
chill day. A chiller day, obviously.
You played him at bounty. That was online.
Bounty?
Yeah, bounty.
Different fields.
if Robs played good online?
Oh, is that what they're saying?
I'm not a good online team.
And Game Religion, Astralis, who do you think's going through?
Game Religion, Astralis, it's a tough one,
but I think Astralis are the better team.
But I think Game Religion, I think Snack is playing out
of his mind, like he's playing so good individually.
He's actually playing a lot.
So I think it comes up to who is more in form,
I think, with the actuals in this game.
But I think they played last time again in Fort Worth.
No, and they played against us, Game Religion.
I think this time it's going to be like a similar, close match and whoever gets more
archets wins.
Basically every game is like that, but I think this game, I don't know, I haven't looked
into those two teams for a long time.
That's fair enough, you've had a lot to prepare for today.
Thank you Flamesy.
Congratulations.
I'll let you get on your way and we'll be seeing you in the quarterfinals.
Excellent stuff and Flamesy as always.
The hard hitting analysis, come a few jobs gentlemen.
Yeah, obviously breathing a sigh of relief, making sure that Vitality make it through
to the quarterfinals.
or sadly for bait, that does mean the end of the line. So let's get a few closing thoughts
with them.
So I'm stood here with Alex. I'm sorry to say you've lost here at Intel Stream Masters
Atlanta. I do think coming into this tournament, there would have been some uncertain expectations
for your team coming in because of the changes you guys have gone through. You had some very
impressive results, however, you know, even if the the bedroom loss maybe can can sing,
play against a Vitality that probably shouldn't be in the lower bracket. How do you feel coming
out of this tournament? Do you feel like there's been progress?
Yeah, for sure. We were training for a long time after the Rio and I think we came here
with a good form of our team, but we were playing with good teams. Like Bad Boom, they
won Vitality, so they're in good shape and it's hard to say. We were playing in lower
break it were sweatality so it's unlikely open for us because we're I think in a good
shape also but this team is much better right now than us so.
Your season still continues you know Atlanta may not be the result you want but you next
up have CAC there is a bit of a break but it is a long way to travel what's the schedule
looking for you guys now?
Yeah, we're traveling tomorrow to China. I'm so tilted because I need to fly 16 or 17 hours, so
But yeah, I think we're still in good shape and next tournament will be like
There will be less good opponents than here
And I think we may be going to show some good results there, but who knows it's best of one at first game
It coming into this tournament, you know, you wanted to serve progress
when it's a meet expectations of your practices for for CAC as well is this I
mean you're building into the Cologne major that's the target right yeah like
the main tournament is the major who was listening always was showing good
results on major so this is the main focus for us but these torrents are also
very important because at least we wanted to reach a playoff at some like tier one
tournament, but for now we're playing with vitality. We're in good shape, so it's unlucky.
Well, thank you so much for your time. This is Bait being eliminated,
it's Vitality advancing here at the Intel Tree Masters Atlanta into the playoffs.
Now, don't go anywhere. There is going to be another playoff spot up for grabs. Astralis and
Gamer Legion will be coming up after the break. Yeah, it feels like a cruel twist of fate almost
because we've seen Flares of Hope.
Jacob, you have something you want to share with us?
You know I respect it, it's always tough to do a loser than you
and he speaks about them moving in the right direction, being in a great shape
and I get the sentiment that we're playing right side of the unlucky for us
and that is a bit tilting, but there's also a world where you could have not lost to Bit Boom
and maybe you wouldn't have been in this position
and that's in your own hands still
so as much as I buy it in isolation for this game
yeah, there are no going to win this
but still if you want such a great shape
then beat Bed Boom playing with a stand-in and then you would have been in a different position.
I don't know. I don't know whether I like that take.
Why not?
You played Vitality then in the upper bracket game and...
Yeah, and also nobody anticipated Vitality making it to the lower bracket anyway.
Like this is literally unforeseen.
It's out of your own hands and if you're in such a great shape then again I've
seemed like Bed Boom I...
But no one can beat Vitality.
Just don't lose.
The point.
Just don't lose, Fred.
You never lose, Fred.
So true.
I don't have the grind set clearly.
But yeah, Batemove and forward, as Alex said.
Kind of tell it about the travels. I think I would be too. You got 17 hours to reflect on that loss and then bam
Strangely enough the tournament first bad man. It didn't look better though at this tournament
You know, I think it's been the conversation for for bait for question time
They haven't really found the footing in in 26 the roster changes you name it this tournament sissy was the first time
I feel like he for for real broke through he had a great game against vitality great on mirage
You know even on dust to try to find a lot of impact with a lot of opening kills
So I think that's positive to spot wouldn't bait and yeah, maybe have 17 hours to remind yourself that hey
we are still in a great shape. And as I said, the field of teams at CSE is going to be easier.
And we should have been in bed. But just as Jacob said, that's exactly what they'll be thinking
about. Obviously, stage one at the major, though. Yumi was talking a little bit about it. That's
obviously the goal for everybody. How do you think they rank amongst the teams that are going to be
entering stage one? Are they in the upper echelon or middle? Well, in the upper half towards the
middle, you know, I think for them, it's just going to be how they perform, right? If they play
on a good level for what they're capable of. I think they can definitely progress into
stage two, but you know, if they have a bad opening and lose the two best of ones, then
it can be really hard to climb out of that hole.
Just a little note on the B-stream side of things. You don't have any spoilers. You've
got three seconds from now to be muting me. Bat boom versus pain. Obviously, seeding matchup.
It's one-one over there right now. Any takers in terms of who you think is going to be making
it a surprise to see both of these teams in that position, right?
Yeah, absolutely. But as I see an Ubers is the third map and that's where bad boom beat vitality. So let's just say that. Yeah
Yeah, but boom because I'm in that
Hmm, I'll say paint for the funnel it, you know and see who goes through it's a big game
You know see me find a spot up for the grab for both of them. Yeah, that's a mess of w points
Think of the points
You know what I've got an even bigger game for you guys the final game of the day on the asium side of things for the
the final spot rather in the
playoffs. That's me going down
I'm ready for it!
Yes, I'm ready!
Something special to cover this people
And that's a thing to do in after-treat
Gavitsa!
We are back!
Using six decimal places
on a mouse sensitivity console command
Now, I think there's two types of people
that can do something like that
Someone with a special connection with the mouse
or dev themselves.
I think it was definitely a high impact one.
This interrogation scene was, it had some impact
on the culture of CS for sure.
It was a really good one.
It sponged some incredible acting.
We liked that.
But I think all the players did it good as well.
And they had to interrogate me, the developer, I guess.
So it was fun.
how it works is you just kind of do it.
Yeah, if they come to you with an idea,
I mean 99% of the time, it's going to be good.
I don't think it's ever been a bad idea,
which I've been approached with.
They've done it for multiple years now,
like all of the results of the skits,
they've been amazing.
The whole community always enjoys them,
and people always want to see more,
so great to take part of it.
You get to create some funny memories and get memories,
because stuff happens in the game,
like CS2 release date or whatever or what they were the interrogation and it kind of
it kind of puts it in the archives that okay it actually had some sort of impact
people you know in front of it people like made the sort of a culture around it
and I think that's the part of skits that you know really it's it does create
some history with CS as well you've played the beta I presume of course
For as many have not accessed my son.
May the Lord save their souls.
Watching the cologne skit, obviously the church vibe, confessing, typical cologne.
When you're doing the skit, you're doing it all by yourself.
The person who is, you're having a conversation with is not actually with you.
You're doing it at different times and the end result, they just edit it together.
So it seems like you know you're in the same place, but in reality or not
So I guess that's the that's the tough part that pops the yes
So I mean they did a really good job in just setting it up and I think the script there is always fantastic
I think that helps really well. They have really good scripts. I mean they produce it way before and I think that's
Probably the biggest part that actually helps create a good skit
Hold on ropes at the back. Yeah
You're the lurker, right? That's kind of how it would go down.
Yeah, but there's lurkers and then there's lurkers.
It makes the most sense if he's at the back.
I was in the room with with Talon to for sure.
I think I was with them.
I can't remember a hundred percent in this specific one.
It was it was more like a round table and they just switched the players around.
We were having a conversation against in the skit.
Like it looked like in the end result.
This one was really fun and remember I wasn't sure what we're gonna do when
they approached us with this there's only maybe this is the one of the first
times like we did a skit we're like we're in the actual booth where we play
and I hadn't done that before so it was really interesting what the what the
result was gonna be like what we as we heard what the idea was and what the
script was I think we already knew that whatever whatever how we're gonna act
or whatever we do is it's gonna turn out really good because the script was that
good and the idea of this was perfect
I think all the jokes they're very fitting. I mean obviously apex they're just just like clowning around with our coach Remy
I think it's it's the perfect. Yeah encapsulation how the team
environment really is you know apex is really a
That kind of guy who is can be a clown he can be serious a tough guy like he can be anything and then everyone else
I think we're just we're just a good group of people who really want to win
but I think we have a nice relationship.
At least I was not doing that.
Obviously, I play all school rooms great.
Zybu does not.
It's just a fun fact, so people understand the perspective.
So when I heard that they're going to put or act like Zybu's playing OSRS as the match going,
I found it really funny.
and I mean, as always, I was a player that was close to me as well, so I tried my best
to make sure I was acting well and people who pay attention, I think they would really
enjoy that one and that's what I enjoyed, I really enjoyed the small details and like
paying attention to that, like doing the acting for all the small bits and I think everyone
really paid attention to that as well and that's why it turned out so good and that's
I really enjoyed it. I think it's like every second of it. I think there's some something happening in this kid
That's either funny or like there is like some idea behind it. And I yeah
My name is sponge and this one is loaded. I can tell by its weight
I see and that's your fire on Bertschild. You're sure my initials are on this side
There's a dent in the barrel from where existence shot at me.
You're not gonna fuck with me this time, Doctor!
Then blast your way, because that's the only way you're gonna get to live this lie.
Your aim, Chad, has always been dog shit.
My aim?
What have you done to my god damn aim?
It's dog shit, Chad. We're telling you the truth.
Your gameplay was mid, bottom-fragging, suicidal.
Your rating sank, but you blamed the way.
Ignored what everyone told you.
You moved to Europe and purposely set
HATV databases on fire, but they recovered the statistics.
You're lying!
I'm about to lose the crack!
Chad, your stats!
Your stats, Chad!
Katowice 2014.
Cologne 2014.
What about Cluj?
Ah, yes.
Farming Devilwalk.
Well done.
Where's the time game?
Congratulations, Chad.
I heard the titan game went very well.
These individuals for renegades have shown up today to help playing many of the titan players.
Thoughts, M&R will get 16-1 then, and they will be going over with that map haunting them.
I'm so sorry, baby. Don't listen to them.
Their CS knowledge is just not that deep. They've cherry-picked the negatives.
You didn't have as much space in your roles.
They need to talk shit, to stay irrelevant. Just like that other ugly hater.
We're thinking all the way back, he wasn't as implicated on Nuke, did just fine.
We're thinking back to Dust2, VSM was a little bit of the weak point here, look at the health bar, nobody's died to us yet,
Yep, we've got three players who are gushed.
They cannot be feeling great about this one.
Now the collapse on beat.
There are three players here,
but two of these players gushed up.
And they hold strong.
No, absolutely not.
They polarized defense.
MagnuJazz just a hammer to smash open this site,
and as the bomb gets planted,
they're not looking to save what little they still have.
I mean, that one just slowly got away from pain right there
with every headshot connected across the map all over the place there.
VSM gets dinged down towards B.
He can't even start the conversation for a rotate.
Maybe he can't even have the conversation for a save at this point.
Smoking towards camera, going to be disrespected by Siren.
He's going to rip away another kill.
And Big U has nothing to really hold on to other than trying to collect some cash.
He'll get dropped as well.
That boom just as they drew up right there.
Do all the damage in the early round?
Then explode on B.
That's giving us as well right to get Magnetages going early on.
He's beaten the guy for them lately, but in this series, hasn't been as much of the main character.
Right, we've seen Zorthe have a lot of impact. We saw Flamas have some really big moments over towards an U.
Haven't necessarily gotten a Magnetages takeover just yet, so if it was going to happen for them, that would be a big lift for that boom.
Yeah, how to slow start to dust you got a little bit more implicated later than the line
But as you said him getting kicked off here early on a new best with how much setup they like to give him
It's gonna be important but speaking of setup here. It's siren
With the opening flash play there and the finish on the kill and this force by not starting off all that well
Yeah, they've got a stacking towards middle, but an executing towards a they just sitting in siren as a probe to see
if there's any presence and
There's only good news for BatBoom right now, they've got a smoke for camera and full control of the site.
It's almost like they don't believe it. They don't quite believe how little presence there is here, they're very suspicious, paranoid as they should be.
I'm just up to some sneaky business right now here trying to collect on any freebies
and nothing for free rate their beer gonna find himself an AK nice headshot there
it's the problem make it personal totally isolated away from your team in this kind of
around as you could not just give it up a better day than they would have otherwise had.
And they're going shopping.
Ho ho ho!
Upgrades galore for pain right now.
Some money made off those SMG kills as well.
They are having a field day.
That's just great work right there from pain.
Best way to lose a round, find yourself a couple of upgrades.
You're going to end up actually having a purchase in this one actually, you know, what you would
expect to be a third round buy or a fourth round buy rather is is gonna come
through now they've saved two three guns picked up money off the MP9 that is
everything you could ask for one great flash for period that was picked up off
of flammas as well interesting they actually do decide to still stay they
don't they don't chase this they're gonna play this I can't believe them for
I wanted to get a safe off after we provided them on Nuke.
Yeah.
This is the diligent play. I'm going to be honest.
I feel like this is a very justifiable chase. You just had to drop one M4 over.
And you would have had virtually a full buy here.
But they'll make the determination that they want that off.
I want to keep it on schedule. Maybe they feel they can win with this.
smoke, potentially stalls his players out. If those chirp points go and the first one gets deployed
onto A main and Batmove certainly know after the damage that was done they should be expecting
a lot more resistance than they would have otherwise expected. Nice swing from Pyrrhea.
That is the AK though, that's the biggest of the guns. Now committed to B main,
not going to be retrievable immediately. Yeah good information there from boomerich to go and
check that flank otherwise it could have gone wrong quickly. So he goes and identifies that there
There is a bit of aggression going through B main that they don't get flanked towards
middle but what ground do you have?
You just give it over canals, you're setting up for a B play.
The big problem now for the defense on the other end of the stick is that they don't
have any counter utility to disrupt so you get a good execute going, you get your smokes
down, one good flashbang can kill you up for success.
Still just trying to jiggle here on the spot.
Magnet just inched his way around the corner, timing's a little bit awkward for him but
there comes that utility.
Looking to be cut off in big U, standing up close to personal with that MP9 just ships away at the damage, but the AK is rain supreme.
And the bomb plant could have come down.
The exit's worked out well last time. This time, maybe not so much. I mean, saving something through would be nice, but the end result is that that boomer gonna have this 3L.
I think they are perfectly happy with who it started, and as we well know, as many teams well know, as everybody in the Counter-Strike world well knows,
it's very hard to get a CC side on a Nougat's gallon.
So they're going to have the AWP presumably here, they're going to have quite a bit to
work with.
It's all about the aggression on CT and UBIS, right?
It's all about how are you going to try and take space.
Sapiria trying to in the last round to not so much success, where does the move come through this time around for pain?
Let's see what they have in store. BSM put it into an all-grade now
A-side backed up with a couple of scopes on it. The Intel Extreme Masters Atlanta 2026 is brought to you by ESL in partnership with
Intel
Acer Predator
DHL
Shax
and ZONE
though.
One more place in the playoffs, but two teams who are battling for it. In one corner, we
have Gamer Legion with Rez currently leading the charge in terms of impacts. That is exactly
what game a legion need if they want a repeat of rivals because they were the exact team to put an
end to Astralis' campaign in Fort Worth. Jacob, there is nothing quite like a revenge match for
a spot in the playoffs. No, I think that gives a bit of extra spice to this game. Obviously, if you're
Astralis, you've got an extra source of motivation in order to get this done. But for both teams,
it's super, super important to win this game and book a spot into the playoffs. I think they're
following the same storyline at the moment. Two teams who for a long, long time have been, you
you know a bit up and down, Astralis more so than Gamer Legion, but as a
recently a training upwards as a recently is getting better and as a
recently is is seemingly you know heading into the major in a shape where
they are one of the favorites to make it into stage two. So I think in that
notion and in that regard obviously for Astralis they've been having a lot of
success compared to where they were expected to be at.
Spoke to Worker coming into the tournament as well where he said he
expected them to maybe use five or six months to be in the position they're
in now and as for Gamer Legion I think they've been slept on as you said as
Well, Yankov, they're pretty decent teams, still have a great amount of pieces to work with in P.I.
and RIS and Hypixel stepping up as well now.
So I think it's two teams who would be disappointed not to make the playoff,
considering what they're adding to their development.
Yeah, I mean, for Gamer Legion, just from the fact they haven't attended this many Tier 1 tournaments,
right, but they got the job done in making it into the major.
And these matchups are always a bit different, right?
Second game of the day, you already had to play earlier.
You didn't even know if you're going to be at this point, you know, fighting for a spot
the playoffs and even though the game is scheduled at what 2pm, you have to wake up at 10 the
latest to get up to your senses, go through prep for that particular game, come to the venue,
warm up and then in between, just by the time you get to the hotel, there's not really much time
to decompress, usually you just have the players chill a little bit and rest and the coaching staff
does the work where they start preparing for the next opponent. I guess that's where you're kind
of fortunate. At least you can walk back to the hotel here for a little bit, but it depends on how
fast the other series goes, of course. We were talking about it in the liquid matchup of game
allegiance earlier, the fact that you felt like they had a decent amount of preparation, some
reads on this team. Is that going to spell a problem when, as you're saying, you don't have
that much time to be prepping for this opponent? No, because fortunately they played recently.
So you did a ton of prep for the game at Tribals, not much has changed really since then.
And I think you also, if you talk about the Tribals game, they played in Krakow.
They played in Stage 1, Stage 2, right, in the final game.
And it was the same exact scenario as today.
Both teams had to play two games on that day.
And it was Astralis who just absolutely dominated game religion in that one.
So these matches, a lot of it comes down to energy, right?
and atmosphere and communication and what do you bring to the table because it's much easier to get
frustrated at this point. People are a little bit more tired, there's going to be more mistakes,
you aren't as prepared, you're sort of flying blind to some extent and that's where
a team that has a stronger mentality, that has better team play really can come out on top.
Speaking of frustrations, you know, look out for Hooksy, he's been showing a lot of frustrations
I know he's been working out, but you know, relaxed with that slaving.
Inspired by Nico, I guess, at that point.
I'm actually curious, you know, to pick your brain up with Janko from a coaching perspective,
because as you said, neither the two teams knew that they were going to face each other in this game for certain this morning.
But as you said, they also did play a week ago at Ft. Worth.
Is there any, you know, call pits? Is there any traps that you can fall into using prep that is a week, two weeks old,
in a specific game in Ft. Worth, and then reusing that here, or is it, you know, still relevant to high-decreep?
Well, I wouldn't go mega into details when it comes to prep for this game, right?
I would mostly focus on how is it that they like to play, right?
Like for game religion, we talked about it a little bit on T-Size.
They play with some pace. That's their preferred way of playing.
So, okay, I would try to shut that down initially.
I wouldn't look necessarily, oh, when they throw this small combination,
you can expect this sort of a split.
Like there's no need to go that much into detail.
And again, you don't want to overburden the players.
It's already been a bit of a long day for them.
So you want to enable them to play fast right to react to trust their instincts and just give them pointers
That's to sort of what they could expect them. Which way would you like them to to approach the game?
I don't know whether we can already maybe bring up the match just because we have a lot of tape to be going off
In terms of the rematch hang obviously last time around it was only an overpass played back at rivals
You mentioned cracker as well. That was overpasser and inferno as well
So it seems like we have a kind of those comfort picks coming in. Is this a moment to maybe throw a curveball?
I mean it could be again. I'm not sure how much they wanted to
Maybe an ancient pick potentially from Astralis right because the picks were the same both times that they played
But in the first time around in Krakow
Ancient was the decider and I think game religions switched it last time over they vetoed out ancient
and then it was supposed to be Nuke as the decider, and I think Astralis wouldn't have
liked that, you know, not having ancients in the pool.
And yeah, we see actually changes for both teams.
No Inferno for Game Legion, they go with Mirage, and Astralis go for that trusted ancient Game
Legion after the tremendous ancient performance, starting T side against Na'Vi, decide to
go back to it, and we have Overpass as the decider as well.
Yeah, a pretty even split map, of course, to both teams, you know, changing up the
the map a little bit and I think that goes into the conversation we had before where
preparation becomes even harder, you know, because that's not the map that you played
last time around. So I think it's going to be a more free-flowing game and I'm curious
to who on the fly can do better. We also did see Astralis play ancient early in this tournament
where they were a little bit surprised that they were pressured that much by Team Liquid.
We heard Stare saying that normally we own people on the CT side so he himself was not
necessarily too happy with that performance so seemingly they haven't lost confidence
in the ancient but that's something to look out for for Astralis.
You said you had Stan. I think I hear him again. We don't have an interview with Tris
Astralis right back into the thick of it man. Have you played a lot of counter strike today?
I mean a few three is on two maps, so it's not the
I could play more but it's decent. Oh, you're definitely gonna be playing more here very shortly
Let's talk about the Astralis that is right now. What are you guys learning about each of these games that you're going into?
What are you learning about yourself as a team?
I mean, I think I already know about I think our bottom level is too low
That's a fact and I think our top level is very good. We can be some of the best use and our good tape and our bad tape
We can also lose to tattoo teams for sure. So we really have to up our button
That's like what we learned this is you feel like the the game religion that you're facing today also has their own
Sort of issues that you guys could look at is there anything comparable there?
I mean, I think they're kind of like us
I think when they play well and they hit the shots they have insane individuals like
everyone that's into bananas and they all can figure out but if they don't hit their shots, I think they're like
technically I think we should be able to play better than them and I think that's
like what we hopefully win on today. Who's the biggest threat over there in
the server? Who's the biggest one to look out for when it comes to shooting? Or
who's the one that might give you guys the most trouble? The most trouble I would
go with Pia. I think when he gets on individually he's insanely good so I
think that's the guy to look out for. One last question this is obviously we
have to know on the gigachat watch did Hoaxi get his problems resolved and he
did he fix this table? He did fix this table and I think today he will absolutely smash
them. Thank you, thank you so much for your time. Of course. I mean I guess in theory
it's the last time you have to be using this table, this event, I don't know, did you?
Are you going to smash the table or smash GamerLeader? Oh, so then that's the attitude,
Janko. Yeah, I mean, Sarah obviously there saying that he feels like their issue at the
moment is perhaps the floor is too, too low sometime, that's what they've got to be raising.
You're nodding, Jacob, you agree with that? Yeah, I do. I think that's a fair assessment
of where Astralis is at right now. We have seen them, you know, playing the peak level
of Counter-Strike where all players are on, Stair, Fusi, Yabi for that matter as well,
has been stepping up lately that Astralis can definitely, you know, go toe-to-toe against
teams that on paper are better than themselves. But as he also said, they look, you know,
quite worrisome in some of the losses they've had as well. They're usually losing the games
2-0 whenever they do lose. So it's a very swinging Astralis, but still, I'd say that
trending upwards in all these swings.
And I think that's why attitude is so important. But because mistakes are always going to
happen in Counter-Strike. We just saw Vitality lose against the Glock Eco, right, on us too.
So, how you go about it is what matters. You can't let it phase you, you can't let it throw you
into a spiral where now it's lingering in your head and it's affecting you for even one or two
more rounds is all it takes and all of a sudden the game is out of reach, right? And especially
for where Astralis is at at the moment, went international, new additions, you know, there's
going to be miscommunications, mistakes are going to happen, so you need to have a good attitude
about it in a good approach where you just keep going, right? Like you need to have that
goldfish memory sometimes and be able to start every round as if it's a completely new
one, a completely new game. And that's how you build that mental resilience that's really
necessary in games like these.
Do you think Huxsey has that at the moment?
I'll be honest, you know, watching his point of view and his body language, he's been
very frustrated and a bit more emotional than usual. It's not a new thing, you know, if
people are watching this tournament for the first time or haven't seen much of
Rooksy as of late. There were times in G2 as well where he was expressing emotions
and sometimes losing the bed of it but I very much agree with Janko you know
especially in an in-game leading position. Sometimes I don't care if a player
is you know getting rid of those frustrations and if it helps him on
least and sure thing go for it and if that means you can focus on the next
round then you know do it but spend a few times in this tournament where he's
doing it mid-round players around him are still doing it you know and still
playing and I'm not a big fan of that. Yeah I guess when Apex does it it's
It's super cool, and when Hooksie does it, you call HR.
What about Snacks?
On the other side, I think, you had a nice comparison.
He's not going to be smashing any table.
No, he's not.
That's what you heard, like, some of one of his biggest qualities is just he's completely
calm the whole time.
Whichever stage of the tournament it is, no matter what's on the line, like, he's such
a calm presence, right, which is really important.
I feel like for this game religion team, considering the youth that they have, right, to be that
calming presence and and and just sort of be the leader that he is.
Flamesy was talking about how he's popping off this tournament right as well.
He's playing pretty well individually so that's a bonus for
Gamer Legion here in Atlanta. I'm not going to give away any details or say
anything of what I heard but it's nice of us having a bit of a pet talk with one
of the players just outside before we came in and I totally agree with you.
Very calming presence. I mean he really has been there, done that, got the t-shirt
multiple times like when you're talking about experiences probably
no more than snacks in terms of this tournament, right?
He does seem unfazed by the pressure, even a couple of times in this tournament where he's
been clutching it out and winning close rounds. He just seems like he's stone cold, you know,
and I think that's a nice thing to have next to you, especially when you're playing with guys
like Hypepix, when you're playing with PR, when you're playing with Wess, who I consider to be
momentum players, you know, players that get off to a hot start and, you know, when they're feeling
the game, then as Stess said, you know, they can be very dangerous on the server, so it's nice
to have a bit of more of that calmness, you know, and snacks you kind of know what you get.
He's never going to be the player on the server that is going to completely run over his opposition,
but he has players around him that he needs to enable, and so far he's been able to do that.
Yeah, Hypex, really interesting revelation as well, obviously giving our flowers to Rez
in terms of the statistical impact, but Hypex isn't far off in terms of numbers as well.
Yeah, absolutely. Stepping in, actually stepping upright, and we saw that the Snacks addition
maybe helped a little bit, had something to do with it, obviously both being Polish, perhaps
makes it easier to do some one-on-ones and take feedback. So, yeah, it would go a long way.
Game Religion has no organization. They've struggled at the
Opera Department for a long time now and having some stability in that role, but also as a roster
across the board is super important for you to be able to progress as a team.
I'm going to be honest. I think it was a little bit challenging to build the tension for our last
matchup. You know, there was a very clear favor in terms of Vitality taking down Bates. So,
I want to kind of put the fire underneath both of these teams right now in terms of what
Astralis do need to be delivering if they want to get that revenge versus game legion.
What are you looking at?
Well, a good game of Counter-Strike and a game where, as Starr said, you know,
where in the tough moments in the game, when they're losing rounds, they're not supposed
to lose. Keep their heads calm, you know, make sure that you have the ability to fight your way
back into a game. You can't be a team that relies on getting off to a good starter or riding a
momentum all the time, especially not when you're facing a team on your own level. And as Starr also
said, a team that reminds them a bit of themselves. So in that regard, I think there's a lot of
to be said about the mental side of things for Astralis and then just to add a bit more pressure.
Sure, you're playing for a spot in the playoff, but I also saw some some of the smart minds on Twitter speaking about Astralis in terms
There's no smart minds on Twitter.
Some of them are somewhat smart and they spoke about the fact that Astralis need points in VIS in order to be invited to the tier 1 tournaments
After Cologne. So this is one of those tournaments where unless they are forced to do well in Cologne
This is a mega mega important game and a mega important tournament to farm some more points
And I'm sure Astralis are aware of that as well.
Who are you siding with?
That's a lot of logos, man.
I never saw Lola and Lyon's logos.
And they've been around for like 25 years.
That's cool.
Riu having a great tournament here as well.
Who am I siding with?
I want to say Astralis, because I'm a bit of a stare fanboy
and everything.
But a lot of it is going to come down to,
they cannot have a slow start.
You need to come in high octane, high energy,
because they're siding on the CT side.
We know the pace from game region.
He's going to start T-Side Gamer Legion on both maps, right?
Fuzi, I think he's having one of his worst tournaments in an Astralis jersey, right?
Like, struggle to find form. This would be a great moment for him to step up
and have a solid game at the very least.
I think that's going to be necessary if Astralis are going to beat Gamer.
Yeah, I want to see more of that Fuzi that we saw back at EPL in front of the home crowd,
lapping up the energy, and then obviously you spoke about the downfall after that,
which is obviously also hot.
There's also the tilt factor because Hooksy was pissed after this game allegiance series in rivals, right?
Like they had what the 12-4 lead on Inferno that they couldn't close out
So, you know, if things start going wrong, there's the danger of those emotions seeping through again
And that's not a good thing. Yeah, I echo that sentiment
I think it's gonna be down to the mental coming in from from Astralis
I'm starting with game allegiance to be completely honest what I've seen so far in this tournament to me
They seem to have a higher ceiling and a higher floor as well
So for my money game on each of them beat them at fourth with I think they're going to do it again
So hang away from your Danish roots. I guess the Stralis have done it themselves. So you just following whatever you always hated either way
It is going to get a reality our final series of the day truly
Do or die this time between game a legion and a Stralis is one more spot in the playoffs remains
Yes single spot and two teams as a tale as old as the game itself
We've got Jadid in the booth with me and we're gonna be seeing Stralis starting on CT
uh, Frostbang on was hard to build tension for the last one, but this one, hard to call.
Yes.
So, uh, the dance seemed to lead a bit more towards Gamer League. I wonder if you echo that sentiment.
It's an A split.
Three through con.
Cams are wrong, we'll get that fixed.
Close the insta, but towards CT, hooks you plant a block.
That's the main.
Who's ECT? He's got support as well.
I got the kit for the post plant, but this one's going to get tough. The Glocks are going
to spur into jungle for this fight in a moment.
Miss shot. You're running over look, Yabby. You're still managing to get both. How's
Snax done that? Ryu finally pulls up his socks and starts to move. He's still worried about
a B-look. I don't really know what's going on.
No, the kids in jungle. We'll just back this one up here, shall we?
I think holding onto the...
Kev is...
Oh! You lose it all as well!
Not a single kill.
Don't know them why at the start?
Yeah.
What did he say?
I didn't catch it.
But that's how you wanted to start, I suppose, if you were...
...was snagged. Look at this one.
A jumping headshot, turns around 180 for number two.
Yeah, that was a little bit too easy, wasn't it?
Well, not a little bit, that was way too easy, right?
The Executor, of course, they're gonna make that type of a move off the back of it.
There's gonna be a Stras going straight in with the ECO now, so...
2-0 style, but guaranteed, and if you didn't think it was gonna be that easy, take a look.
Highlighted by the Obstime right now, they're in the...
...complete wrong place with this B-stack.
So in comes the Execute, and over goes the rounds.
Couldn't get easier. A dream start. You've had a zero kill, or rather zero death, I think
it will frame it from game on each side first round, and now you're already walking into
the site with zero resistance. Yeah, at least some bloodshed here though.
Yeah, you want to try and limit them. I think the problem with something like this is if
you give away kills to Mack 10s, fortunately no Mack 10s. There's one.
And you hear three sounding off behind that smoke, so just ensuring that rifle doesn't
fall into enemy hands. Towson grabs the AK and holds it.
I think if you're a game alligian, you're going to hope to find yourself in a scenario
completely different from the Navi game on Mirage yesterday, right? Where it was just
tit for tat as far as rounds were concerned, consecutive well-armed to post for both teams.
So two kills come in. Now we'll get the guns out. Desk highlighting
Fozzie needing to have a better performance as well. He's actually the second lowest rate
play for Charles now you could say that's you know not necessarily a problem especially with the
output that we see from yabbi instead it's more just how far down in the stat line is 0.88 right
and you need something a whole lot more deadly from your orpers output but don't worry about orps
they won't be coming into play for this first rifle round stacks fending the mid presence
Rez and Townsend dealing with underpass and B.
And now on the second timing, they'll waltz out with the flashes and grab the space. Rez held at bay for now.
Looking at the radar, it doesn't feel like Astralis is going to group up and clamp down on the mid-block.
It looks like they're preoccupied with focusing on this jiggle smoke defense on A.
We know that Stair has respect for PR if he gets going and he's going to be the A lurk,
so if they're able to deal with him and really stunt his exploits,
That's going to make things a whole lot easier, but this is a nice round of call for snacks.
You've got in the room that you were hoping for, and now you're able to go into that next
level of motion.
Window smoke dots in, and they're turning this one into an A-split.
So Rez, under window, lines up the molly, drops it in, diligent stuff from Gamer Legion.
This is exactly like you said, this is the kind of round that you've been hoping to call.
gun round. It's a bad gamble as well from Astralis. They don't have the bodies in the
right places for this. Yeah, you've only got Yabi and Ryu with everything to do. That's
the flash catch is Yabi. Anticipate snacks on that staircase. Ryu in the smoke and a
free frag for Yabi. Trade available. It's PR, his patience from Palace and that's round.
Yanko was hoping Astralis would come out with some level of tenacity. They've been saying
it's so far. Right, game religion aren't playing a pacy game, but they're being allowed to
to go through the motions and uh...
strahlers they're the ones who can really change that right but you have to
have a good read on the situation
i think that's right have the right idea with people go back to it some of the
matches earlier in the tournament
so can they lose long so they take up a tunnels but when they take up a tunnel
so they don't hang around the vent clear then they make a bad assumption that
they have to rotate long and then the wrong place so
uh... they they make the right moves but
just like that uh... final five percent
to get them across the line
So they will retain three guns, but very simple stuff for game
originally. I think with ancient up next and then starting on the T
side with what we saw them do to nappy, if they're able to do
anything similar to that, yeah, it could just be an absolute
showstopper of a two zero just like what happened in Fort Worth
completed from map pool this time round. Yeah, I mean, yeah,
I talked about how frustrating that was for Astralis not being
able to close a 12 for lead on inferno. If Astralis want to
in the conversation for a team who maybe could snatch away a plowspot at the
major this is the type of game that has to be winning yes good point and I
understand there's more counter strike that can be played and practiced upon
before the major sure but this is the type of team who I think at the start of
the season you'd be hoping to rag doll interesting approach
Gonna be disruptive in middle, but you are losing a lot of lives!
Fuzzi was on top of Hoocsi's head, he was in the mud, in the flames.
And sure he gets the kill, sure it's a 4 on 4.
Can Fuzzi get away unscathed?
Rez activates early, catches Stair and transition.
So that's gonna have Gamelige with the leg up.
They already did in some of the equipment, and now look at this state of affairs, it's ugly.
You've got Ryu with a 5-7 hoping to be able to hold both ramp and palace, but in the meantime, they'll walk into a wide open B-bomb site.
That's another round that we can call.
Yeah.
Some people might say you're doing a little bit early, but with the amount of utility and the space that they've got and the positions of Astralis,
this one feels completely out of the realm of possibility.
Let me throw on top of that the res lurk just in case, so he'll remove Ryu.
Now, it's just Yabbi and Fosy probably looking to hold on to these now understand the loss bonuses there
They will be buying it into the next
But it's a this would be a long old half. This is felt very casual
Hasn't it kind of like the last series does? Yeah, it has a similar add to it
And which which is not what we were anticipating. It shouldn't be like that at all
Obviously the desk highlighting these frustrations that we've seen from books. He had Atlanta as well
There's a timeout in an earlier series where he was just going nuts, which you know, you we can only speculate
We don't get to hear the time out, but it could be one of those things where a teammate, you know, makes that off-comment and you just
Have to lay into him. You don't have to lay into it, but feel compelled. Yeah. Yeah, you are
There's always that one teammate that's talking under that breath or making a quip and it's like
We're just we're all on the same page. We could just be like a sigh. Yeah deep, so I down the microphone very true
So a tech pause call for okay
So that's gonna be a little bit of a respite from Australia's because this one's been kind of spiraling
What a horrible way for Hoopsy to die by the way.
He's a good driver, I'm dying here.
Yeah.
I can understand you know you-
I'm walking here!
I'm boasting here!
He did uh, you know get the kill.
Uh, but it did cost Hoopsy his life and it's cost us tries the round as well.
For we are gonna get the sniper out, we are gonna get back under way round five, number one.
That was very quick.
So Techie's you couldn't have been uh...
No.
Techie.
Not too difficult.
So this time, they're not even gonna bother feigning the mid-control.
And Yabi up close, right? He's not going to be hearing into the nades.
Stare is going to lombonade in deep, but they're set up for an A-play.
So they're going to sell this fake, right?
This is meant to draw the players away from middle.
Then Rez gets to activate through underpass.
And look at, look at the second.
He has three players to worry about before.
Now, just one of Yabi.
So Rez after the Molly fades is going to be able to take that space.
Pia is out on A.
Yeah, I suppose he's going to break the smokes.
And he's going to execute.
It's just as easy as that.
Yabi's behind them.
Oh, that is quite the flanking.
Hypax is gonna have to bring the bomb, so he's gonna have to leave.
What is this round?
It's bizarre.
Why is going up?
Oh, my God, Ryu's gonna be over the top.
Trey comes in, and it's P.R. good for it.
Stairs on Conn, Reshid, have him if he's looking the wrong way.
Knock those, Stair, brings it a 3v3.
P.R. on that trade.
We clean shot.
Here's Yabi.
Finally arrived, and P.R. is not ready.
Oh, the bomb can just run into B now.
Tassen can deal with the rotation.
He's actually heading over towards Short.
Yabbi likely to head through Market to deal with this.
This is an agonizing game so far for a shot.
They're always playing in the dark, right?
They don't have intel.
They knew it was an execute, but they don't know anybody's a RIM.
Game of the Legion were completely silenced during all of that, Yabbi.
Ignite the server with this one, mate.
So he's gone.
Ooh, spotted.
Okay, has him foe on Hypex.
and made him oh
You could be really frustrated as you swap to your name. You see him cross
Thousand playing from the short side the short side plan. Yeah, he knows what's up. I mean when the first dual high-packs clean
Makes it a another game a legion round five and zero all ready
How long for stuff we've been in the server ten minutes just flying through it
Yeah, it does feel lengthy in terms of rounds because of these saves
But the stars haven't been in a position to contend now because of those aforementioned saves
they do have enough money to buy again but there's been no bites right I haven't felt a single one
of these scenarios they've had an understanding of what they need to do or where they need to be
and yabby had a full-on flank on A then right so it felt okay maybe they did have the others but no
it's just letting him play still in the black box and yeah a very odd one but it's double orbs
apparently to remedy this horrible death prophecy as well right looks the wrong way he starts worrying
about the potential gap on jungle side. Ryu's tucked in can't help him. Very, very clumsy
looking for Astralis, infestation starting to look very visible on the faces of Hoogsy
and Astralis. Round six, let's get it going. What's that?
Straight into an X.
It's a great call against double orbs and they don't even know it.
Oh, you're right, yeah.
They don't even know they're against double orbs.
And one of them is going to be trying to disrupt towards Palace. How's PR and his clears here?
Rez seems to be well aware of the possibility, but still, he'll be able to find him.
Now it's double ups now.
Does that change anything?
I think he's still execute A.
Pierre will just have to pick up the responsibility of whatever Rez as part of this execute was.
It looks like it will be a molly, right? So he's wanting to juggle this forward, but...
He's gonna make noise.
Yeah, and Ria's on the balcony to hear this, so...
I'm just gonna hit the pause for now.
Best chance yet for Astralis.
Alright, this may really be his life. Very difficult.
And then he'll throw a second one, which will force him further.
Anti-Flash. Goes for his fight. Unable to find that headshot. Snacks has vision backed.
Halston's available as well. Swings on in. Two of them.
It's PR that finds him off the back of that. Hypex, Flash and E to the A side behind the Smokes.
Oh, Smokes has faded. Hypex goes down. He was in the open. All too easy for Stare.
It's clunky, Towson back for Kroo. Get some both.
PR can get this bomb planted comfortably. He's actually going to fake it out.
Fozy and Yabby both with orbs. Now just advancing all too easy for PR.
Yabby in the clutch. Blind spot. Walking in. Towson catches a whiff.
Yabby in the clutch going up. Close and personal with PR dancing in the blind spot.
Oh my god!
Now they're fighting their voices, wow, that's a frustrating start to Mirage for Astralis.
What a sick double kill from Taliesin there, over to what's connected, that one puts the round back on, great work from him.
And that is another opening kill for Yabbi, he's found three so far in six rounds of play, four of the six in total have gone in favor of Astralis and they have zero rounds.
He's crazy.
You can see he's a bit of an expert around that palace position, knows his wallbangs.
Happy made damage, but there is a ring in, but the frags are still flowing.
Max goes down, shawl, Towson on 4 HP, you've already got PR up short.
He's laughing.
You wonder what these disappearances of Australis are, right?
unfortunate in this video that
Right they bound an uber's which I think game legion are happy about their stats on that map are not great
And game legion removed dust too, which we know is everybody's favorite map to pick against the Danish core and
Again, the video is completely different from last time round
It was a bit more techie with your inferno's and your overpasses in the opening for a now
You're looking at a mirage and ancient a bit more broadly, but I think it feels like a straw so missed the memo
This one's for the final spot in the playoffs
I'm a scavenging hunter, have been able to get themselves an AK, that's his 7-0, yeah.
And that's not without openings, there exactly, but that can get leveled out pretty quickly.
Oh, okay, maybe another kill.
B and D, get B9.
I don't know if it really matters.
Two's nice, three would be better.
A couple of extra kill rewards for Yabi's
on seven grand in the bank.
Yeah, but at this stage,
you're only able to manage five on the CT half.
And if you get that, it is serviceable,
but it means you need to win the pistol.
Both these teams at 50% as far as pistol win rates
are concerned throughout the event.
Obviously that has slightly tipped with Gamelidge
and winning this one to kick off map number one.
Well, they're not gonna go double offs this time.
This one for Fozie. Everybody has a killer, at least.
That's the difference from how the Bay game was trending
for a few of those players.
But who's going to be the Sizi?
Yeah, is it going to be the Astralis AWPer?
Fozie scoped up on the shore side.
Hypex's counterpart on the T side,
boosted up over the top of that mid-smoke.
And it looks like Astralis is trying
to insert himself in the game.
Be a little bit more jarring.
Snacks are safe behind the box, that didn't send you, it's used very little.
Not gonna be flushed into the AWP, but he could peek it.
Oh no! You don't want to see that from the sniper, a golden opportunity.
You've got full vision.
A rifle peeks into you.
I'm unable to post that opening kill.
Hi, snag.
I ain't made damage. We've seen plenty of that from Astralis, just need to finish the job now.
I'm gonna jump out with this, they do.
It's like they do, stairs going.
Starr is going, look at this, pedal to the metal, straight out of the window, yabby swings on short,
and that's what you were talking about, bringing the fight to the T side, and it's a complete shutdown,
the perfect start for Astralis. It was now or never 7-0, you said 7-5 serviceable, this is
the start of that 5. Yeah, it looks very risky to make that type of a play, but I think that's more
in line with the tenacity that Yanko was hoping for. Now that's where the damage that you were
Spouting about in the previous doesn't come home to roost immediately, but if you can string consecutive together it definitely does so PR
Well, only 1400 loss in the next I can understand he wants to take a canal to a way force them into a couple of drops
Sure, but I think he really needs to hold on to this a k. So we will call it the first round for astralis seven or one
Reminder to everybody that the seeding games are raging on on that B string
You have Betburn versus Payne and that will be followed by Navey versus Legacy, so make
sure that you tune into all that action as well.
This is determining what our playoff bracket is going to look like here in Atlanta.
Immediate timeout.
It's tough to be able to pull off that same move again.
So look, it's great to get the ball rolling, but now in this mental warfare of in-game
leaders and coaches and the calling of the patterns. Who's going to stay in front of
who? Right? So, okay, they've just gone for something a little bit more forward or middle.
They've been trying to pick us off as part of our default. Now, do they think we're going
to change into a round that is going to be more sight centric? Do we want to go for something
that's maybe a little bit pace here? We did see earlier in the tournament game, Legion
Alpha, some of the time, we'll just go into set pieces.
Oh, that's what I'm thinking with the flash. That could not be better, right? Going up behind
them as he's jumping out the window. Very well done. And a smile on the face there of
Ryu. I like that one a lot.
Yeah, that's really good. I mean, it's good signs of life.
Look at this. So they are feigning very early A pressure. Look at the smoke. They're going
to rain straight in. They'll draw the attention towards middle and then you get a dumb U2.
block and you're flashing we don't have any even for what's happening on the
site. Look at how much they've dumped. Look at their belts. And then you go okay
wait there's no commitment you start worrying about middle you have to be
pushing it where you holding his backs and now you're going for that second
wave. Tassan is so annoying on these belurks he's playing his own minigame
right he's not playing like underpass to cinch in through late to connector and
sweep. He's like I will do it with Hooksy as he rotates away. He ever pushes B
I'll kill him.
You know, Hooks has already gone down to him once, so this is the second wave and this is the rest of the smoke.
So it has to be the commit right now.
The last time I did this, they stayed so silent. They just walked in.
And as he looks at it a little bit again, Yabi's very quick on this, though.
Better acceleration from Yabi this time.
Yeah, he's gonna be making it in a better timing.
Snacks flashing through.
He's pounding for the bomb as well. Jumps over the staircase.
Stare on Conn. Real as well in support.
Yabi, a rising wrap-up, his teammates are doing a lot of heavy lifting until Hypex sprays two down.
Yabi should have Hypex any minute now.
Triggered discipline, I think he spots them both, so we'll go for the tap onto the P1.
Beautifully pieced together by Yabi.
And you know Towson's the lurker, so expecting his arrival.
And now audible to Fosy.
Okay, nice one there.
So Yabi didn't believe that it was that A execute.
He's the one to immediately take space, and now it is consecutive,
and now the money is a bit of a problem for Gamer Legion.
I know they didn't win that round, but I have to say it's uh...
It's a... the ideas were so sound.
And the pushing the jungle smoke as well, I'm not sure about that one.
That's certainly uh... not something you see every day.
Bomb over the staircase.
To consecutive and tec-nize.
Okay, so just to partial into this one.
They're doing... did they follow it? Fast back, fast back!
Yep, fast back.
Fosing perfect. Nails it. Re-U as well in combination.
This pace change has not gone anywhere. Into the lag, snacks goes down.
What a nice thigh. One bag from Hypex, he's actually done some damage on to Stair, but it's got Adonai Dunk from Fozzie.
Bolling shame. Alright, well, 4 for Fozzie.
Errr, no, that's a missed read.
What did they say? What do you think?
I think it's the things that they forced there, they only have 1900 or had 19.
I
I said 2900, either way, I think they thought that was a full shove.
Interesting.
That's what that sounded like. I'm not 100% either way.
If they're thinking it's against an eco, they're wrong.
They'll work it up real quick when the Molotovs start arriving.
Yeah, window smoke, top cat, and it all.
Yeah, they're definitely not eco.
Hocusi hanging around for this.
No way he's gonna jump up after it all sounded off.
stubborn on this B pressure. Hypax is finally seen enough, we'll just leave Townsend.
PR heading back towards A, aware that Palace and A ramp could have been pushed, snacks
over towards the island box, res in the underpass. He'd hate to give Australia's all the
momentum of five straight into the break. So can game religion grab one more?
Oh, I think they certainly could make a good shake of the stick for another. With Ryu going
down, PR on the rampside, how it accelerates, finds Yabi now that's not Hootsie!
Exactly, the anchor's still there and the rotation's coming to help have the in-game lead out, meanwhile they're
to walk into an MC bomb site over towards A.
Snacks selling it as well with that pressure on the short side has pulled all those rotates.
Looks like Fosies haven't second thoughts.
They'll be across though. Or maybe not.
Oh, crouching! Beautiful timing on Rez's arrival and what a frustrating one for the CTs.
How many rounds out of the 12 they'll have played will Strys have not had a good understanding
as to where they're aiming to finish? They've just been kind of constantly chasing the tail of Gamer Legion.
I know you've come to taking everything away.
I think Gamelidge in recent history, a little bit more used to two best of threes in a day
because they had to go down and play in the lower circuit, right, to earn themselves some
VRS points and be back in contention.
The start of the year they were on our screens in the big boy events, then they didn't perform
well enough, they dropped away and now we're getting this late resurgence, whether that's
because we have two 16 team tournaments running simultaneously, so I mean 32 teams getting
Invites or they started to work their way back up either way we get to see them
Now we're going into the final rounds of this first half of play
So what could have been a salvage 7-5 can now only be an 8-4
Looking very comfortable our game a legion
Very good understanding what they want to do never really in a tough position in terms of
We're having a scramble mid rounds.
Quick flash for a swing. Will you set up to succeed?
Oh no.
He nearly had it.
Oh no.
Oh that's a rough one.
A horrible round to end the half for Astralis.
More of how it started really. Yabi's gonna get run at.
Elise denies it from being a perfect end.
But Twan Glamish on the record.
Ipex confirms he's peeking mid.
And I mean what is Yabi supposed to do here?
Take a couple with him
Not gonna happen high-pitched post it down. What a statement start on the T side and running with it
Just three to Australia's name as we swap sides will be right back
They made me into it
It's like you should be yourself
You remember my grace
To serve the brave
You can't leave this being
This is how I'm gonna learn
I'm not afraid
To serve the brave
Yeah
Love times went down
But we've gone down the stairs
Yeah
Let's head back
We're set up now
But I don't want to keep it down
But we've gone down the stairs
Yeah
Let's head back
the twenty-ninth of January twenty-seventeen snacks loses a major
final in Atlanta to Astralis. 3,392 days later, he has an opportunity to kick them out of an
STA tournament and make the playoffs at their cost. Who says no? Ignore flag. It's a post on
hrtb.org by kissing before Mirage. That's the current narrative, at least from the community
standpoint. Well, Gemma, would you be kissing after Mirage right now because they should
celebrate this one? This is an absolute steamroll. That's nine rounds on the T side
And everything they wanted to do was allowed. It was so perfect.
It was a bizarre half.
And it could very well start even worse on this second.
Iron Mike is going to be baiting for Rez.
Will it be our easy...
and pissed around in this one's lemon squeezy.
Ancient coming up next.
It doesn't have the dual barrest though. You must be ducked.
And it seems to work! Be done, Will!
Two lovely headshots out of Rez.
Oh my god.
He's jumping bunny hops his way out of the apartments.
He needs to tap the head of Towson, can't hit it.
And Mike swings him with a left hook.
Hoopsy finds it.
2 on 3 now, looking to rectify.
High-packs making it difficult. Hoopsy's got to come up clutch here.
That would be one way to get Astralis started, wouldn't it?
But from behind, PR just taps him in the back of the skull,
and it does look like it could be quick.
Back her up more.
Running through this one.
The US, if you bang on right, the Julius, yeah, sure, I'm ready to just go, boop, boop, boop.
It is America in his rest.
Is this IEM Oakland?
Yes, I think there's something, he does well when he's at it.
What about the 2017s?
Yeah, okay.
I think Pierre wasn't alive then, or no, he was, he was about 10.
Yeah, yeah, he was probably like, you know, in the playground or something.
He was probably actually about 10.
How old is PR?
17?
No, he's got a...
19?
Well, here we go.
B.
He's on short side.
Already got himself one.
Finds Ryu and the tech.
No idea.
Flipped him there, but still, Talcim gets to him.
Wow, this is...
Well, yeah.
This is the end of Mirage, essentially.
Yep.
I think it was maybe forced by out of the rest of the game.
Your other option is Eko now.
Give them 12.
Win 9 consecutive rounds.
You know how good...
So he's 18 now.
Okay.
2017 nine years ago
Yeah, so he was nine. It was a nine year old nine years old
Classic. I feeling old for a professional gamstrike in 2026
I mean what I do like speaking of old and speaking, you know of snacks
That dude's been having this philosophy of I like to start on T
Like for as long as he's been giving interviews and he's still doing it now. No in the big 2026
And it works
At least, uh, seems to have been.
Just, I still can't believe how...
comfortable the calls were in the first half.
Yeah, really bizarre.
I don't know, they have opted for the force by out the game.
Angle is, uh...
Tarsen says, hello, I'm aggressive.
Very deep near, that can only be thrown one way.
Nice to meet you, aggressive.
I'm Dad.
I don't know, and, uh, that's Strahlus.
Now they go.
Abby?
No, they're dead on the ranch.
They're getting owned on...
Yeah.
That would be out of why.
They might be asking, why did we leave this map in?
Yeah, well, I guess, you know, it options are limited.
Dust to remove by gamer legion and still getting towed around on this map.
Okay, Abby, here we go.
It's nice when the counter track can do the talking for us, just mauling.
True.
Alright, another full spy, let's go!
We get more Galils this time.
Shake it off.
Alright, Taylor.
Yeah, I mean you gotta...
You're counting one, ain't you, at this point?
Do you see the notes there?
It's nice, there's even pictures.
Oh yeah?
I don't know what...
It's a visual learner.
Yeah, but I wonder what the picture is.
Is it like a line up for a smoke or something?
It can't be.
Well, it could be.
It could be.
Or it's like...
Snacks let me look at these notes with a little or these like 2d cut. I can't tell from there
Maybe they're the skins they get if they make play
Crimson web karambit if you can make playoffs
He's just pushed yep he has pushed palace on his own volition
Everywhere and nowhere at the same time
Oh wow, if you didn't middle click that HE he'd have done a significant up-oh and they can't even catch it
Ryu's rough around the edges to start us off
Did have the back of Rezzy's head on his screen
No one's got the bomb no the game is over
We need the bomb.
Don't even really need us right now.
Guys, this is over. We're going to map 2.
It's ancient. It's Astralis' pick.
Game Legion is off to the side of the T side.
They did that versus Navi and they absolutely rumbled him.
This is Mirage. This is done. This is a speed run.
But this is for the final place in the playoffs.
Astralis, if you want it, you've got to shake it off.
Taylor style, damn quick.
Because that is not a game of Counter-Strike.
That is a drubbing. And Game Legion, they're here to play.
It's so casual with it.
Yeah, Kinderlegion, full steam ahead.
They're about to pick a barrage.
Goals swimmingly, and Janko, you prophesied.
You know, Stralis, they need to have those hot starts.
Didn't happen at all in this match.
Yeah, definitely not.
And it wasn't like, Kinderlegion was playing with a ton of pace early on.
They were defaulting, they were doing a good job of taking control,
sort of squeezing Astralis out and they just weren't really that many reactions and when
they did come in the, you know, face of Yabi on the flank, like his teammates would just
drop the ball and they would just die before he could even activate.
So not really coordinated enough early on Astralis.
Yeah, one of those games where the first couple of bar rounds, I think Astralis had a way
into them.
Yabi got a couple of opening kills on the T side.
sorry in the season where they could have benefited from it, where they could have
capsized on it, when that didn't happen then it kind of you know fell out of the
hands and they lost grasp of the game and you'd argue that the score line was
maybe not justified the first couple of rounds but then again just got to give it
to Gamerlian sorry for being able to close the rounds even though they
weren't necessarily in a position to win it I think that's when we speak
individual qualities we spoke about PR coming into Tausen having a fantastic
showing against his Danish countryman as well and I think from an
individual point of view as Flamese said, you know, in terms of who shot the most headshots
and who stepped up in the 3D3 and in the 4V4, Gamer Legion were not only one step ahead but far
ahead and at the bottom. 100%, I mean Stare even prophesizing, you know, the most uh,
a lug leak to be shooting heads, PR, I mean it was pretty much everybody other than snacks really
up there in terms of the kill department, just seemed like such a fluid world machine for Gamer
Legion. Yeah, certainly they seemed like the better team, you know, more prepared, came ready to play,
Astralis didn't have many solutions and then when they did manage to win a couple of rounds
It sort of that was it. That was just a flash in the pan also sucks
You know when you lose so many rounds your point gets a better economy like they did get one anti-co in there
But that was it game-relief managing to win the final two rounds of the first half
He really felt like with that, you know, it was just a matter of time before they closed
No pistols as well, you know game relieving converge both of them as well
It just becomes a dire situation at that point where the score line is
Is looking not great for us to Alice in a game where they never really had a chance after the first five or six months
Yeah, let's go back to rounds that just as it happens five and six. What would the tail of these?
I have surprised Jacob in asked for six and seven, but never mind
This is all the rounds we talked about like you see the
Execute come in for the side of game. We actually have two players on the flank
crisis in underground and Tausern was towards B-Apps and here Fuzzi does the smoke break,
doesn't see anyone, happens he's wary about the flank, but I mean this from Fuzzi just completely
left himself open to the whole bombsite, just dies for free, Riu gets traded right now in basically a
quick 3-1 and you can see Yabi who was on that flank the entire time, I mean he just gets the one
kill but they already over to the B-Bombsite, like he actually had really good timing, if they played
more for time to stay alive, right? But there was miscommunication. Fusi is worried about someone
being boosted window and potentially flanking him. Ryu isn't covering him. Well, he's going to check
that and the round completely falls apart. They just fall all over the place with Yabi on the flank.
Yeah, it's always a warning sign to me when you lose grasp of the map, especially on a map like
Mirage, where there's not a lot of holes to be found. You have again Yabi coming in, you know,
with AWP in this instance, having a good spawn for it. Not often we see a double upset of CT
He's at Mirage, not with Yabi either.
He gets a nice opening and that's a good start to the round.
But that's the issue against one more for Astralis.
They lose grasp of the round.
Ryu gets pushed away with the Molotov right there.
He's getting hurt off now, so they're very well aware
that he's in this position.
Cannot really do a lot of stuff right here.
Left to himself, gets a flash to his face as well.
And at that point, you lose control over the A bomb side.
Again, a scenario where Astralis gets an opening kill,
gets a 4B free scenario,
that even becomes a 4B 2 scenario.
And at this point, if you were to close the round,
stop the round right here,
you have Tausen coming in with a double kill
with 12 HP in Connector, none of the two Astralis players are ready for that encounter.
And yeah, you can say that the timing was good from Torsten and he really hit it, you know,
and instantly killed his two opponents.
But just the fact that none of the two Astralis players are aware that there's even a possibility
that the player is pushed up into stairs with 12 HP.
Well, it's not a good sight.
Yabi again then, AWP, not the best weapon to have when you're going to retake into the bomb site.
And as you can see, he's not known to be an AWPer.
Sometimes you can, you know, post an angle, get the first kill,
but when he gets into this close call or come back, not his forte.
And that was another moment where I should have won the round without it out.
And I guess that's what's surprising, right?
Because last time the two teams faced very much a more competitive fair, right?
I thought, I mean, particularly with playoffs being on the line, of course,
there is always going to be the question of stamina, the energy levels,
considering they've already played once today.
But it used to be pretty competitive between these two teams.
It did, you know, and that goes into what we're saying about the two teams
following the same trajectory.
I think it's two teams on their uprisings and two teams who have a lot of similarities
and individual skill.
and it's hard to dissect them. It's hard to say that one team is significantly better than the other.
They share some of the same map pool as well.
So it is a bit surprising to me as you're also sitting here for that the game is not more competitive on Mirage at least now.
It's still a best of three. There's still a bounce back to potentially happen for Astralis, but in isolation this map,
yeah, it could have been closer, should have been closer.
But I think it's fair enough, Gamalidians are winning because they were by far the better team.
I mean, Astralis has had better results this year when it comes to tier one competitions and
And what's not, but Game Religion has been more solid, it feels like, right?
Like their floor has been higher, even though their ceiling hasn't been as high in terms of results.
So, Astralis, like, they're either really good or pretty shaky, that there's no middle ground for them.
It seems like at the moment, and obviously on this first map, they were pretty shaky.
And whether they can turn it around on ancient, they'll have to start on the city side again.
So, game legion has the opportunity to still dictate the pace of this game.
They had that incredible T side against Navi.
11 rounds, I believe it was, sort of storming to a 13-1 win.
So, a tall task ahead mostly because I mentioned Fuzi still struggling, right?
And, you know, not being able to just get the frags and could see sort of a little bit lost
in some of these rounds, right?
It's been a tough tournament for him.
And you're just really hoping that he can find a way to turn it around his team absolutely needs him
Yeah, I was just looking at some of the numbers on the side of who's he's been pretty rough tournament
And even considering right the last time he faced up against game lead, and he wasn't having such a tough time
I guess it's when you get into your head a bit in these moments
You've already had pretty long day as well
It's gonna be challenging about spec
Can you note in his his best shape so far him in Atlanta?
But it's time for him to together with us to the team to to step it up
And I think as well as is a different looking team when you have an all presence on the map
One thing is, you know, obviously having that extra output from a specific player,
but you know that as well when you're facing an out player who's closing down certain areas,
or you actually fear as an opposition.
Sometimes that makes you call differently, sometimes that makes you a little bit extra cautious,
or it forces you to use more utility when you do your defaults and try to take over map control.
It doesn't feel like Fusi at any point in this tournament has installed any fear in any of his opponents,
and that's obviously not a good thing for Astralis either.
Do you want to preface ancient a little bit as you alluded to a game a legion really make a light work of
Navi of all teams on that T side what works well for them and can that translate versus a strong everything in that game
You know like they just had they also great job in some of the mid rounds in terms of getting the decisive kills and punishing Navi for
Really going for some hero plays individually and not playing as much as a team
But I think a lot of this depends just on a strong
They need to wake up. If they don't wake up and play significantly better, it doesn't matter which map it is.
Game of Legend would have closed it out 2-0, so some of the things we showed from Mirage, like you need to do better.
You can't let your concentration slip, you know? You're not going to get that many opportunities in a game nowadays,
so when they do present themselves, when you do the hard work, so to speak, you need to be able to close out.
That's a good thing for us to honest, though. It is ancient, they do get to start on the CT side as well,
And I think that's when you look at the the course of the entire map pool for Astralis
That is the strongest CT side they have in any of their maps a map
They feel very comfortable on heard stair earlier today say that normally we own our opposition on the map
You know liquid they were struggling a little bit to get over the finish line, but statistically speaking
It's the map they played the most it's not the win the most
It's the CT side brother have the highest win rate as well
And it's the CT side where yuppie have average of 1.51 rating in all those games
So there's a lot of positives to I guess attached to Astralis and that CT side of ancient
So we get to see whether it's a day off or a game off here for us, or they will come back to the normal level.
I mean, I can't blame stuff for that confidence.
I'm just looking at some of the teams they've taken down, Spirit obviously, FaZe in a bit of a turmoil at the moment.
Maus, we're looking at foot as well, the Mongols, just to name a few.
So, yeah, very confident showing on this map.
What are you looking at mostly for that CT side where they're going to be starting?
I'm looking, and I'm going to sound like a broken record, but just fusing to have a slightly better game.
because he's very mobile on the off like he'll be everywhere at times depending on what their
setup is where the third guy on the B bomb site or lock down the A or play more towards mid from
donut right and just get some confidence going for him right because obviously it's gonna have to
go into overpass if Astralis is going to come out on top and that's where you're really going to have
high expectations are you giving me some hope for Astralis but do you actually believe what you
No, I never do. I never do. I'm just a great salesman.
It just doesn't seem to be there in terms of energy
and how they're doing, like the frustration is seeping through
and doesn't seem like they can snap out of it unless some big individual moments
come through to sort of lift the spirits for everyone else.
They don't have a lot of confidence in Australia's coming into this game to be completely honest
and nothing I saw on Mirage changes that.
Ancient is the best bet to have a winning a map and I think that's possible.
It's possible for them to keep this series alive, but overall I'm still starting with
gaming.
I think just to be fair, Game Religion has played great this tournament.
They had one really, one kind of bad map against Navi, trashed them on Ancient and were very
competitive on Mirage and the rest of the games, they made light work of their opponents.
So I think it's not even as much, I don't trust Astralis as much as I'm trusting Game
Religion right now.
And this is why it's such an exciting map to be seeing as the second one in this qualification
and elimination series. One more shot at Astralis to turn this on its head and it goes down on ancient after this break.
The founding holiday still keeps in the heat of coming into it.
We are back!
Atlanta hotland, you can call it whatever you want.
What we've actually come here to do today is to keep playing and see what happens the great peach state
It is Atlanta, Georgia, but mostly a lot of historical
The hunt continues
All right, man either
That's what I say he plays he playing video games you play counter straight
Deep into the depths of the Pond City market. Hey man, you play video games?
I'm 45, so...
How old do you think I am?
32.
Okay, yeah, that's pretty fair, but I'm 36. We'll take that.
I'm not sure, man.
What do you think about two teams or players playing against each other in tournaments and video games?
I mainly play, like, Rainbow, Apex.
Is it something where we can kind of mutually agree that there are games that shouldn't be considered respectable?
Perhaps maybe, like, I don't want to just put words in your mouth, but Valorant?
with Valorant. I was gonna say the same thing. Yes. You guys know anything about video games at all? Counter
Strike? Silver Pirates. Age of Empires. My team right now is number one in the state on Marvel. Marvel
Rival? Yeah. My school. What school you go to? Carrollton. Where can we find some Counter Strike
players? I mean Age of Empires is cool but I'm looking for Counter Strikers. I'd rather go to the
hamburger place maybe you know in the corner H&F. Thanks for the guidance. You want to say some
What's up guys? What's up guys?
Poverty. What is it?
Poverty. P-O-V-E-R-T
I was about to say that's the wildest sign off I think I've ever experienced on the show here is poverty.
Alright, we've got game religion back in the server. Second time today. Second time's the charm, right?
Yeah, exactly.
That's why you guys look forward to playing on these days if you get the chance to play two BO3s as opposed to just one.
to just one except for that game earlier really did they stress you at all like was there any stress
in the liquid game i mean i wouldn't say so i mean the only thing where i mean why there could be
stress that we have some sickness in the team and we are not feeling not not me yeah not me sure
sure sure not anymore not anymore so yeah i think yeah we are just low on energy but hopefully we
we got the rest and now we're gonna have more power.
I was just over there talking to the side of Astralis and they were telling me that
you're the biggest threat in the server. Is that true?
I don't know. If they think that then it's good for me but...
Well, I don't know. I don't think so.
What about over there? When you look across the way at Astralis, what do you think in terms of firepower,
in terms of problems that Astralis could give Gamer Legion today? What are they?
I think Stahar, I don't know how to pronounce his name, so I'm sorry, but I think that guy is pretty dangerous, but I'll get him in my pocket.
Oh, I like that. That was smooth. Anything else you want to say, man? That was good. Look back on the camera, that was good.
No, nothing else to say, good luck, and see you in the summer.
Mila, thank you so much.
The mother of the short, I'm gonna hide stairs, this is WTG, I'm hiding stairs okay, we're gonna retake on...
Oh, I'm on top of the flashing now, we're gonna...
Yeah, we're on top of the WTG, I'm gonna flash, I'm gonna do...
Flashing!
On the 2, 1 more!
One on top of us, come through, come through!
Cover them!
Wait, I said replay it, replay it!
Quick, cross your Z player.
Quick, be ready out.
I have 3 viewers.
I'm gonna see one jungle, we're basically...
We're playing Serpent Suite.
Flash, flash, flash, one more!
I'm fast.
One B, one B.
One more, one more.
Top gun, let's take a play.
Bomb is top gun.
One was BF guys.
One was BF.
Long time ago he can be on the right.
I'll take one.
I have ramp.
I'm going down.
Nice!
There's just one final spot available for the Intel Extreme Masters Atlanta playoffs.
Game Legion or Astralis?
Game Legion already taking a massive step in that direction.
You saw Mirage there with the Astralis comms.
And yeah, I mean, you got to see the best round out of Astralis on Mirage.
That jump out of the window with the flash, it was convincing, but that was about all
the convincing they did.
Game Legion dominant.
The power of television.
We can show you some rounds where they looked good and felt confident, but still got owned.
They can't pull up their socks. This will be a number quick map and we saw what game
Allegiant did to now be on this very map starting on the T side. I do believe they had them their worst
ancient loss ever. That's right. Ooh
stairs gonna go swinging in towards a main and he confirms well kind of the whole plan
He spotted multiple bodies. You just commit anyway, or are you gonna scrap it? Well, they didn't see the bomb
good point but you did see two maybe three yeah so I think right now the
fact that game religion aren't just going all in this is good to from PR even
if he just makes water noise and then walks back it looks like he's going to
there you go right because you're thinking okay they spot them that over
rotate because they didn't see the bomb it didn't commit all the forces and right
now the setup is fozy hiding baiting for him stare yabby over towards red making
sure they can't slip at the donut on the jiggles Ryu the dual bread is in
hooksy playing for info over towards be ramp and now they'll just continue with
the plant 30 seconds later here comes the execute
We've got Stare and Fousey.
Good angle for Stare.
Loses vision. The flash pops.
Fousey is completely overlooked.
A nice sequence out of the two of them.
A two-man aid defense.
Just how to sit down as well to Fousey.
That is a crispy star.
So exactly what you want to see if you're a strahlus.
Shaking off Mirage, resetting, and a clean convincing pistol.
Alright, well, we'll game a legion, opt in with a force.
sure the bomb doesn't go down, but this could still be tech 9s with a bit of
YouTube behind it. Towson's chipped in with a Diggle, it looks like they are just going to take the eco.
So well done, good setup. They gather the information early, they don't over-rotate,
game of legends stick to their plan, they just get absolutely shredded.
So this is more like it from Astralis. Now this one is more about just keeping the bodies alive,
making sure that you don't give away more than one or two casualties.
You should know that the gun rounds will be coming into the next so
The game a lesion it's the opposite right you want to
Siphon out as much of the time on the clock and you too as possible and
Couple of kills in a plant would go an awfully long way to making your following gun round stronger
But not only that sister as is
Finances weaker. Towson boosted up has a chance to find an opening
And again towards there, you know, starting to put those bricks in place for conditioning,
even if it isn't just a deal.
PR spamming his glock, got the detachment drawn, Yabi, very composed for two.
Stare shouldn't get for this.
And he is.
Okay, just PR who then knew was spamming the glock, and it's a little bit sketchy from
Posey.
He's an oppo.
Who makes the M4 work?
And now the guns will be invested upon.
Now does next want to finish a again now just out of my own curiosities, you know, is it something they're gonna be
Continuing with part of their
Bonslaw against navi was getting mid control relatively easily against the mccasey and Emma and and that came through res
Right. He was doing a very good job being able to slide out middle
and
Looking to okay. This is just a bit. It's not a default
Oh, it's also not even really an A, guys.
They Molly top ramp real immediately says,
no, I would like to know how many players are on lane,
and it's a grand total of zero.
Still though, it does look like PR's taking a lead
through that smoke on doors,
but they have already been able to relay
that they've got that lane control,
and stairs can appeal away.
They will have some bodies.
Okay, I thought they were reading it.
Well, Yabi doesn't know they're up.
No, that is gonna come as a surprise to him.
Snacks over the top might be a shoot.
Yep, just the tip of Yabi's head goes down.
Fuzzy Donut, they're gonna wanna try and delay as best he can,
because they're actually gonna search and clear him.
Stay from highfakes.
Now the bomb goes down, Resil punched that in, Ryu's still over towards B, so...
3v4, where this is quite disjointed.
Oxy only has this MP9.
And as Stare starts to path back and Ryu doesn't make any moves towards the bomb,
Oxy's just gonna look for an upgrade or some damage.
That'll be the first rifle round going in the favor of game allegiant
So that was simple stuff walk out boost up gets a lot of space there
I think if you were looking at a few of the tendencies the game
Allegiant did it well in that nappy game
But remember they were that Molly you just heard they're being extinguished PR was pathing behind it a lot
It's almost like they're doing the opposite openings as what they did against nappy
Right. It was very B centric in the first three or four rounds
And so if you were a starless for example, and you were prepping and looking at the most recent ancient game anticipating your pick of it
This is not meeting those expectations
That's repeated such a gangster man
You've had you know now we'd be very critical of the repeat calls once upon a time, but if it works it works
Yeah, but also if you're a starless you're gonna go okay
Well, it's gonna be something towards lame now, right? Well, this is it
I'm just looking at this game against Na'Vi, so the pistol, it was like a B fake until they finished.
Their first anti-eco was a B play, their second was also a B play.
Three start midfield throw starts. Resist found an opener.
What? Fozy just goes down on a smoke spam.
Oh, rough way for this round to start.
Fourth A hit in a row.
This time Riu is on that tree position though.
I think he'd have an advantage versus the Galil of Tausen but unable to finish him off.
Tick-toe done it fast.
Oxy must be having the most miserable game of Counter-Strike on this CT side.
He is dying to the lurks more than he's dying to the actual body of the attack.
So frustrating.
There goes down all five stand alive and some energy.
Just assessing the finances quickly hooks you with 4K,
foes you with 4K, everybody else with just around two.
So he's going to have to be the eco knowing 2,400
comes to the bank.
And that's the opener.
So Rez just peppers through the smoke.
Foesie tries to play up close and personal in the elbow.
And he's a dead man walking.
Yeah, incredibly frustrating game of Counter-Strike if you piece this in combination with Mirage.
Alright, well, it's a piece stacked out of Astralis, this is Yabby Donut with a USP.
The pistol upgrades don't rear you and Hooksy in the right place, and they've even got a smattering of you till these flashes.
He's been spotted, need to get him off.
Oh! Okay!
It's gonna run down.
It's important to fight snacks.
Stays calm, controls the spray, catches him through the door.
Scoot down.
He's gonna run down.
Stays calm, controls the spray, catches him through the door,
scoops up some bonus nades and they survive, but costly.
As far as an eco goes, decent output.
So we'll bring him to the AWP now.
Highpacks could do the same, but let's see if the calls allow it.
I think if they're going to continue with this like belay mid control,
which is very standard, I think maybe just the AK.
They don't need to build around the AWP, that means they're going to equip it.
It's unfortunate spread for Snacks double molly mid.
Yeah, but the elbow smoke straight through there deep.
Yeah, Rez has a lot of freedom.
He can say they're not jumping out of heaven.
That is less than ideal.
That gives this B plate so much more buffer.
You're right, they don't have to be concerned about this.
High-pex allowed to be boosted on the box, will peek on the flash and post up on the
line.
you if he dares to jiggle or even just jump spot he's gonna be called by that
warp just like that jumps across half-heartedly if all the jump came too
early yeah yeah did and he had his backpack on so how's that removed by
the hypex sniper foes he's in the blind spot here
Huxxy's got a lot of work cut out through here, throws his block smoke, you're not running
through Grey's screen, you've got 55 seconds, you're not in any rush.
You will throw a name to the top pocket of Huxxy's Astralis Jersey.
Rio's cheating back over Yabby as well, so they're stacking B.
And there he's been spotted, Huxxy confirms his return.
With rest of the light they can pivot.
Easy, nice pick up.
So the opening kill of this round, round six goes the way of Astralis thanks to their Swedish sniper.
Now pivoting.
It's the right call. I mean look at that stacked B bomb site.
It's the only stair that stands between Gamer Legion and access to this A site.
He's in the donut.
Good flash, was a good flash indeed.
Stair doesn't lose vision, Towson runs on in, the trade available.
Oh, PR hits it!
Sight's open though, they should be able to get the bomb down and set this up.
Hypex can take some deep lines with the AWP if he wants.
And Rez has got that temple on lock from Big Box.
Look at Rez, he's holding CT, turns to flash.
They're advancing quicker than they anticipated.
Kiyuga is caught huge from Yabbi on the entries, takes two down,
it's up to Hypex in the bush.
There's only one bullet in his AWP and there's too many targets.
Can still remove Yabbi on the defuse.
And gets the reloading.
Low covering fire.
Surely not.
Fuzi hasn't pulled the trigger track yet.
It goes for a quick one.
Fuzi running at him with his pistol.
Hypex gonna go for a...
Hey, Mary!
Is it on to Fuzi?
What a hell of a catch from Hypex!
Hello, boss!
He says hello and waves goodbye.
He's not even being covered!
But he's not even being covered!
Oh man, you've already seen Yami kind of control the desk punch once.
Immediate timeout, call this an emergency meeting.
Yami did such good work as well and then he just...
Look at this, down to 3 HP.
Yeah, I'm poked.
Did they not? I guess they didn't know he crossed?
Well, I hadn't communicated exactly the plan.
the fact that he had one bullet is able to get the reload in that that's not meant to be happening
yeah roger understands he needs to help us uh strullers they're not one of these teams
who they're their own worst enemy just mentally in the pits of despair the entirety of gay
religion know they they got away with something crazy there that what's not supposed to be all
round after yabbi being so quick on the scene finding the impact finding the double onto pr and res
Oh, that's rough.
Yeah, down to another partial.
And this is what they were doing at the NAV, right? Top-Ramp Molly and NPR just put his aim on display.
Oh, that's off the shoulder. That's all he needed, because the A3 ain't perfect for the double-swinged Towsons there to pick up any new sends.
And they'll rock into a B for what should be five.
Staring at Desert Eagle, not going to be able to make much of a difference here.
Does it feel like a different energy in this team since the Snaxing game leadership?
Yeah, it does. I mean, it's just such a nice blend of experienced captain with talented youngsters, right?
Yeah, right. He obviously gets that bolstered a bit with Reds there as well, who can still play like an absolute animal, even though he's the I.M. Oakland...
What was it?
179 MVP. I think it was earlier than that. I think it was Babylon. Yeah, BC, I believe.
102 BC. He can still be an animal. And then
like PR is one of these prospects. I was like, well, where's he going eventually?
I think Towson is
for a role player, extremely solid. Very fun to watch. And then they were highlighting
since Zeta's departure kind of hypes is
rise.
the
what
back to back timeouts
they did take it right it went they lose
a bad round and they took the time out now they're taking another it wasn't
we didn't we saw rugged pre yeah yeah yeah
I'm just making sure because it just feels so bizarre to be running through two and two rounds. Yeah
Well, look not if it gets you back in the game
So Yabby has a kit so is he back in with the all I do want to know was it snacks his picture book
Havix has a good mid spawner right now if he wants to go and try a bit of a monosie sp that could be fine
He's got the HE for him
Snacks and Resor options, PR 2.
This is an A rush?
It is.
Or at least they're feigning the presence.
Yabi's gonna hear this in AMA.
From Dona.
It's a...
It's a fake.
It's a pretty scary fake to be honest.
It's pulled a heavy rotation, made on the CT smoke.
You see? It's an important fight.
Catches Resor and rat the smoke.
Important from Yabi.
On to Towson.
Stralis, after these two timeouts burned, you wanna see something.
as a product of that a third round got the man advantage yeah but he's got
battle how's PR won that how's he gonna get away from this as well they're out
at you till stacks is in B if they just live over the whole day stacks can wrap
around the world you can't die you cannot afford to die to temple or peeking
into CT let's next play he's cut noise yeah fire off a shot great
keeps attention drawn snacks like in his lips walking around in a wonderland indeed again
the foe's he look in the wrong way get sideswiped snacks down to reel overlooked
P.R.s on the boost Ikex finds him 1v1 should be there he's a safe bag of the P.R.s the one with the hot hand
once more oh no they can't catch a break they can't they can't leave them alone they're already dead
Oh, mate. You packing their bags? You're sending them to the lobby?
Yeah, but you ain't folding them. I think it's 10 a.m.
You ain't folding their clothes. Just jamming them into the suitcase.
Bop.
That's sick. Isn't that sick? All right.
Having a good time.
OK, all right, let's start to wind it up.
It's funny when you can just see a Counter-Strike game being done, but it is bizarre, right?
The kind of disappearance of Astralis.
Yeah, because this is a, in World Counter-Strike right now, we know who the top dog is.
We got a couple of other names that we would put in a bubble below them, and then you start
to have a few other groups that you define in different ways and Australia has shown some
promise throughout this year. But this is another head-to-head against Game Allegiant.
With a completely different map pool looking like a very similar result. And with the Major
now just around the corner, it becomes very worrying. Their confidence takes a massive
tank going into the biggest event of the year so far you can see all yabbi's
options were null avoid there it was die to a molotov or run away
That PR killed, like, the X-ray off at a 25% speed.
Mm-hmm.
Directable.
Oh, it's just killer.
You know, like, we're having fun.
Yeah.
We're all having fun.
Unless your name's a Stralis.
But everyone else is having a good old time.
And it's a team effort.
Nine for PR, eight for Hypex.
We do use the third time out to make sure you have a, like, you know, at least try and
have a competitive half scoreline? Or do you have to save that like just logically for
that next half of play? Does that make a difference?
We got three rounds left in this half. You may be getting out. One more gun round after
this. I feel like they're checked out. Yeah, just feel that way.
Smoking rounds there, getting easier to press. Now he's going to go fast, turns up this momentum and still manages to provide an opening shot.
Takes down stairs, snacks picked up onto Ryu. He's going for more. Yabi should have him. Yabi should have him.
Yeah, okay, three on three. Important claw back from Yabi. The Ampster pulls us into a three on three.
I just gotta say now, yep, she better waltz in here.
They have some incendries for the bomb side though.
Important.
Very important from the Swedish sniper.
Forced away by the incendiary.
Ready for the swing though.
Read like a book.
Hages three and up.
Yabbi walking smoke.
Help by Towson.
It's falling into place magnificently.
from game a legion 8 to Astralis is 2. Yeah, you you understand the setup there when Ryu dies
in middle, right? So you know that their setup is definitely much more mid-centric. We're seeing
Astralis run this a few times, but that run boost is a little bit clunky this time around. They get
caught good trade from snacks. Sure, he gives this one back over, but he confirms the information.
It's PR's kill on Hooksy that says, okay, well, both B defenders, at least if by a standard setup are
dead. Let's just parv on it.
It's been essentially four straight absolute mollies. And these
are meant to be the more high octane matches. See?
Rocks wrap. I might slow them down a little bit. But yeah, they
are. You'd anticipate this would be like kind of, you know,
locking horns, giving it a all significant that playoff spot
for Vitaly versus bait.
Oh, Reshmi's dead.
Should be, should be.
How's he gotten a kill there?
Well, same in mid.
How did he get anything when he, like,
got shunked to 40 HP and was...
How does Vue completely obscured by flashes and HEs?
This is, yeah, this is not surprising
with the nameplates of Atali versus Bate.
This is very surprising for GamerLegion versus Astralis,
and I, again, I understand the head-to-head,
but it shouldn't be looking...
...your Ractal and your opponent.
There you go. Snacks was busy telling them what he wanted,
and actually gets caught off guard by these cave re-aggress.
Not that it necessarily indicates that Astralis have got a third locked in here.
And nobody tending to A right now.
What do you make sure they can't commit to Dynap?
He's the closest, and I think the biggest problem is the utils.
So if Pypex smokes Dynap and posts up on CT,
how are you meant to path into even get temple control?
Unless you get to temple now, which they are starting to move over,
who's gonna smoke CT okay but you don't you're expecting someone to be here
go for the nape break
focus attention hypex can't hit the shot stair cam nice one long range head shot
yeah quick one from PR yeah be out temple has the back turned and misses the
shot stair still good for it though it's up to PR in the 1v2 we've already had a
clutch from the donor position from hypex unlikely to have a kit in this
Let's talk about buying exactly. He's gonna play the clock and they might have to run it
in. They shall important as they're incredible quad kill. Okay, he's gonna make sure it picks
up the AWP.
We'll get this diffused through and that is going to be the third round for Astralis.
PR thinking he could have won that one for sure. But look, stairs gonna happen. We know
this man has a high level of output and that one is confirmed. Oh, okay. He's a make sure
to take the AKs through.
There we have it, a five-self-head AWP in the AK.
Well, it could be worth his weight in gold if you get this level output again.
Double AWPs on the T-Sides, SNAX and IPEX with the AWPs.
Where are you going with that, SNAX?
Such a good question.
There you go with that, SNAX.
Like, have we already talked about how, like, T-Side will pick on H?
We've got a few options.
Very few.
SNAX wants to present another.
What is the plan, Mr. SNAX?
I'm curious. I'm super interested. Here we go. So I need the smoke need the smoke
dead perfect couldn't be better when we do that again
I'll be looking the wrong way and now you're gonna push it to be around for info
obviously the orbs not there. Oh you could have had hooksy in the hip. Not known to be an
over. No, that's for sure.
I saw uncomfortable.
Couldn't have gone better for her face. Good
to lose.
Now getting geeky with it is PR.
Kavis there's Towson secures it at least stage one.
Stairs in middle, closing towards red and as we were just
on board with hooks, he's playing retake B long smoke to PR
bomb heading towards A.
So yeah, they're gonna do a full exit like smoke you'll be behind the smokes be
It's pretty retro if they do pass through mid to donut
Stare could get a couple of frags
Or boost over the smoke to try and confirm this empty, but there's not he was here
And he needs the smoke that's the boost who'd see good for it
Okay, that's an important clawback sure you've lost the A site two different rounds happening at once
Yeah, there's two entirely different beings happening
Simultaneously this resident ready sweat past who she's a patient now he gets caught with the monitor
Wow, what a hell of a half from game a legion day not the
Having fun they're having their way with
Astralis and nine to three half the playoffs are calling game allegiance name and Astralis. They've got nothing but packed bags
the game. It's fully commited to
the bit. And so a game in each
and they're committed to
securing playoffs here at the
Intel Extreme Masters Atlanta
last spot. Stralis floundering,
getting thrown around the
server here by game. Allegiant
another T start another huge
hall. A game. Allegiant a stage
one team for the upcoming
Cologne major. If that's the
case, I think they're likely
front runners up against what
stage two team of Stralis and
they're throwing them around.
What does that mean? Surely
a bit of a run in Colode if they can keep this kind of form going.
Res, wave and goodbye to Astralis's hopes and dreams.
Yeah, look at that loss.
100 times we get into the game.
Okay, then the frustration also starts fading and everything becomes way easier.
And I promise you, the closer we come to 9-9, the more they're gonna sweat as well.
So, let's lock the fuck in now and do our thing.
Do their thing, which looks to be pressure onto Dono.
A stack, three players here.
Yeah, nails it on to really that's the bomb carrier removed that one from Hoopsie's stat or sudden quick
Res on to Fosy mid and it's just Hoopsie. So I guess that thing was losing pistol
It says USB out
Very quick to the trigger is res
It's a really nice calling in the first half from snacks
Some really nice moves that we saw playing off and now a CT side pistol where they had the right players in the right place
to deliver the right outcome
Is it going to be another one of these where you just force by out the game?
No plant, but you'd be given a little bit of life.
No!
smoke doesn't seem to have caused too much problems because you can just block ramp
and hydrax
he's gonna back himself up a triple kill
oh hoaxes in bay that's pretty cool
yeah that's true
dowson
position to collect
still can't believe we had four stomps consecutively
are not especially usually on the last day that's when you know the perfectly
match up teams collide
they were talking about there you know game rivals yeah
that was much closer 16 14 13 8 oops not the best in San Diego eggs down to
the stairs, and the R's are already catching flagged, yeah, down as well to Yavi, so they're
into the side, hang on, Resy's quick on Temple, the flagged, go on fight, Fosy goes down,
gets them off the plant, now, 1,000, very aggressive on his push through the CT smoke,
Stax was, uh, preoccupied with a fight on Hooksy, oh, Stax is gonna go the long way around,
so Hooksy will have to at least monitor this for a moment, I don't think you need to go
for this right now, you could also think why the hell not, but there's so many rounds
to work with. Snacks is going to go give it a look and Res is going to save so Snacks can find
himself an upgrade. That would be nice. Maybe they prematurely evacuate the site.
Well they are going to go for it. Res was just making steps.
Snacks walks through. We're just trying to leave. Yeah, be two.
We're going to use the back of them. All right. Well, I liked the idea. Yeah, they kept it interesting
for a moment. Yeah, definitely a difference of hypex lands in century. They're not able to pay that
a part of that and get that room. But that's a nice start. Snacks tries to dart back and get
an upgrade. He cannot. So he carries through the MP9. Everyone should be able to buy or snacks
and even dropped 1000 a rifle. Let's stay with a great opener. Maybe this is the reverse of
rivals, right? Because it was a Nostralis lead that they capitulated and lost in overtime. I see.
Okay, there were 12 for down
Well, they were these guys have never played a three-map series call versus call. Oh
So why not get your own back. Yeah, let's do it today. It's gonna first time
So many flashbacks you've even got ready to support pl's party clean one clean two and the abbey through the smoke could be number three
So deflating starts around isn't it
Oh wow, smoke spam even. Chippin' away at Hoocsy.
Helicopter I can hear outside, it's here to pick up Astralis.
Yup, VIP. Take them to the airport as quickly as possible.
I just so tough. I've loved some of the moments from Gamelidge. I've had some cool clutches.
There's been some really big multi-kill moments.
Ashran just haven't really been in it.
And nothing goes right. Hooksy will get a kill, but he will double up.
There's 40 seconds left. Fosy wandering around in middle as Hooksy trying to kick her a bit
The bomb is outside B doors. You will have to finish B
I'm sorry like
What's got like what are you trying to do? I have a similar what what are we trying to achieve like it's over
I don't even know if they're like calming and stuff anymore. I think if he killed PR
Yeah, what does it even matter though? Exactly. You know hook sees be ramp, right? It's it
Pixel gap here's and drop 10 seconds
PR quad kill puts his stats up nicely to 19.
Alright, let's recount the runs shall we?
Who's he giving the AK to?
Stare probably?
Probably Stare to go middle or maybe Abbey.
The flash is great, weren't they?
Just continue to flash behind the box but Riu and Stare unable to par that in the middle.
Yeah, Stare's been giving the AK, that's his Stare.
He's trying to set Stare up, fair enough.
Yeah, all the motions there stairs out mid stairs almost dead. Okay. Yeah, double name
slashing his face. He's behind the box. Okay. He made it. The AK is out cost the AK is out
mid. That's what you were looking for. Yep.
Towson's looking for Hoopsy and he's, ooh, trying to restrain, not falling for this bait.
And he will throw it out now.
Anti-climactic conclusion to getting the last playwatch spot, I think.
I've had it a long time.
Yeah, it doesn't need the AK.
Gifts you the dig and puts it to good use.
Just looks away.
Take it to the head spot.
nails another one to Rez, PR's his next challenge, back turned and a nice tap from the tech 9, okay this is promising.
So an opportunity to extend the game for a moment longer, 2v4.
Now you accelerate B, you know where one plays, it can only be one on B, you just have to trade 1000.
He's tucked on long side, so here we go.
Now you get the info, I'll put it into the box, okay.
Snacks is here.
He's actually cool, hoops are true.
You is on A!
Oh yeah, Ryu is on A, Bombs on B, Yabi's in a 1v1.
Snack's not gonna be considering that, is he?
Yabi's going A.
Alright, well, Snacks will have to run through Ryu.
Ryu, you have to hit this.
He knows you have to hit this.
He's got him.
Ryu, please.
He's got him.
Sorry, I have relief.
All right, so GameLegion kicked off I am Atlanta with a 2-1 win over Sinners.
They actually lost the only map was Mirage. They turned it around.
They took on Na'Vi. They pushed down the distance.
Angel was the map. There was the real statement for them.
And then Mirage was close too. It was crazy back and forth.
So GameLegion dropped to that lower bracket.
That meant today they had to play two best of threes. They dealt with Liquid.
That was a 2-0 matchup.
What was the scoreline in that Liquid game?
It was pretty straightforward. 13-9, 13-6.
And now we see them are going at Strahlers where they're dominating again.
Remember that was 13-3 on the first map of play, and right now, well, you can see the scores on the doors.
What a shot! 12-5 with the conclusion of this one.
It does look like, uh, Game of Legends are gonna show them a little bit of mercy here, Alex, by taking just a light bite.
P250, 5-7, and deagles for snacks and PR.
IPEX will just be holding on to USP.
Let me get 1900 lost into the next.
That's quite a few of their players have around that 3k mark. Going for a fast A.
Rez is here with the P250s, blocked a bit of smoke.
And they're gonna run through? Nice one.
Ah, I see that smoke.
And a nice access point for Ryu's rifle.
No, through the smoke, and now a smoke push from Hypex.
He wanted to kind of sync up with Towson, and now they've been segregated and taken in two independent fights.
Rez has repossed, sorry, PR has repossed quite quickly.
He's already got two with his Desert Eagle.
Yeah, so they're very vigilant about donut.
This is the player that Stare sighted,
as well as being the one to watch out for in the server.
So they're all gonna be playing extra Keem.
Nice hold.
All right, that was Nico.
Guns come in now.
Six round game.
So yeah, both Hypex and Rez have struggled
with their Utoblta Block, the fast day.
First the incendiary from Hypex previous,
This one the smoke not really achieving its goal
All right, so high pecs is gone with the pharmacy to make sure you can get out the full nades
They do have a kit on PR, but just one PR haven't gained twenty two and eleven
All right stare out middle dust some damage I'm confirmed towards red
Rez cops a nade as well for his troubles. He won't be hanging around there. We'll have to back off
So PR plan a block in Donut
Snacks the same in cave and Rez retreats to B. So currently 3-2 split with nobody towards middle
Essentially everybody from Australia studied to gear up for what could be a B place still plenty of time within this round
Yeah, someone will have to address red. That's the leak, so Hypex is heading back to pick
that up. Instead of taking the space, Cave Control Stage 1. Snacks can play the block
and does. You don't want to block them again, and that's
a nice timing that comes in because that's going to fade around the 32nd mark so they're going to
think all right we can set up our U2 right now we've got cave stage one we just need to get stage
two we smoke we molly we go in and we should be good to hit this b site stay you can deal with the
lurks. You can't survive late here comes the x-seq. Perfect flash onto hooxy. Stairs being told
he got rotations PR still in donut though when he's having one hell of a game they got their
needs out they've got to be quick about this. Team flash. Who's got team flash? It enables him
Fosey, two-way, wanted to re-u, Fosey though, holding on, takes down PR.
Five, four, three, two-way, wants to go down.
CT plant. CT plant and stairs there.
It's all about high picks and res, and whether they get this trade here, the spacing's not good.
Stair will catch them both.
Now a two-on-two, this is a must-win round for Astralis.
Fosey and Stair.
Counting on them.
Just walking into it, so Stax has no option but to save it.
Look how they were destined to head in towards that B stack with the pivot.
Perfect, and even though it was a little bit clunky, they get the job done.
They don't need just one more round, so don't be too frustrated just yet, game.
They just have a long way to go before it starts to become a war.
But it's there. He's trying to contend with the output. 18 kills for him.
12 for Fosy, who has been having a rougher tournament.
Nice win.
So an AK saved 2900 is the loss bonus. You will see a little bit of investment right now.
A couple of Dx57's even spattering your U2 will be available.
Knowing that next round when you get the 2900 you will be able to full buy.
Really important kills there from staff. Saks is gonna hold on to the AK.
Something 4A. Thanks for the push, Aimee.
Just going to let them smell the info, isn't it?
They could even keep pushing stairs. Actually coming back to address this possibility.
What's the timing on the go of this push? Are you just here for the round to defend the AK?
So you have it into the next, or are you hoping to catch an action?
The Towson is at least armored and he's forced away by that on the top.
Does he give away the sound cue of the burn at least, but they know he's there?
Oh, now they're able to rotate back towards B. Snacks with the AK though is still in A main.
So the boys will have to deal with the pistols while the in-game lead up is elsewhere.
If their pistols manage to, you know, ward them away from B, you will be channeled into that safe rifle.
Oh, now Snacks starting to activate, so having a look doesn't see anything.
So it doesn't really give them the tell.
Another block ramp.
Stairs spotted on red.
Oh, who loves that nade? It's working.
It's damaged and finds the finish.
It moves the art.
It pulls five pegs away and they start to creep on in.
Two smokes invested into long, so resources running thin,
but the access to the sign I say is in a very chunky nade.
using their YouTube world. I know they did double smoke, but
who's better than none?
That snacks looks like he should just be saving onto this one. So,
Astralis will make it 12 to 8.
This will be the fourth consecutive since the 12th has been reached
from GamerLegion. Astralis responding on this sec path back into the game.
Hey, you wonder, does it start to get threatening now?
It's getting there.
Yeah.
Considering the patch arounds we just had though, now it is going to be game of the
region who have everything they need.
Last time, Pypex had a Famous.
This time, he can have it all.
Big difference.
Terrorists win.
So, flawless for a strong split, doesn't really matter at this stage.
I think it's does equip his AWP Kevlar to go along with it. No you too for him. Everyone else into the rifles with the full sets of nades
should be able to get out a kit or two as long as snacks equips one to join Towson. So we've got everything that you want to find the finish.
We just oh okay find ourselves slipping into attack. So a moment to catch ourselves reminder to everybody tuning in what this one's for the final spot in the playoffs at
I am Atlanta 2026. First time we found ourselves here as far as I am is concerned.
We've already looked at five out of the six names from group A.
Really today Vitality took down bait to secure that third spot during Betbombe and Payne.
It's a mic issue, so we're just going to sort that one out with Rez. Down in group B we find
ourselves now, legacy versus Navi. Map number one is Inferno. We've worked that one on the
on the Tele, that one is the seeding game. Both those teams already secured for this
last spot, final seed of the table, and Gamelagin has been relatively dominant up until this
last patch of rounds.
I'm taking this opportunity to check out Na'Vi legacy. You guys can do the same over on that
secondary stream. That is a seeding match. You know, one of them getting that by, by
skipping the quarterfinals, both in attendance for the Atlanta playoffs. Tickets sold out
as well for that. That's exciting.
Yeah, what is about 3400 I think we'll be looking at here in Atlanta as part of the Dream Act festival
Let's see everybody on the weekend
The way we go fozie out middle
Play fires off the warning shot Rez behind the smoke and have transfer our he cheater fozie could catch not too bad
Step down to the spam from Rez. That's problematic
Smoke break need a quick scope nails it back
Hypixel's Opus well, though. It does connect catches. Yeah be heaven
Oh, he catches a glimpse of PR over the top of that shadow. Easy pickup Ryu just walking on out into high pegs
Assumed he had space in this one already looking like it's gonna be the last round of Stralis play in Atlanta
Has to be Hoaxie and has to be fozy to somehow rectify
PR lucky to get away with that and he still hangs around in red. Hi pecs has given up a for now
Stax had a false clip mere found it great impact already mid clear excuse me. Hi pecs is here in time
Oh, I'm spotted on
Hi pecs in the right place
Fosy on that CT like good for the fight who's he onto high pecs a great start to 1 4 goes to 1 3 eyes on the snacks flank
Yeah, it's big foes. He could be caught by this. He's gonna be distracted as well by CT
Looks like snacks has got the timing on this one perfect headshot on to the side of the head
Fosy goes down forced to watch as who sees the last man standing for astralis's hopes of this comeback
Warning shot draws his attention. They're playing this one by the book though
They're going to make Hoopsy an agonizing long wait does manage to catch PR look at the wrong way
It's snacks to close it down game a legion eliminate Astralis and they put themselves a ticket to the playoffs
Hypex a strong performance to close it out as well high impact from the sniper PR
23 frags a game-set match Hoopsy yesterday that headset off
We've been talking about these frustrations with Astralis all week long and they do not get the revenge
They were looking for from Fort Worth not that long ago
go. This one is going to leave a little bit of a mark over there in the
Australia's camp. We're in the lead up to the major and to get flat lines to get
dominated it is a little bit rough right. This is a team that we were hoping to
build some confidence behind and a result here in the USFA is not the one
they were looking for. They came in they took on liquid a 2-0 then they went up
against legacy first spot and the playoffs got 2-0ed losing 13-8-13-6
dropping down to the lower bracket. Today they played the two best of threes
sending home sinners, but being eliminated finally by Game Allegiant, who played some class counters right like the calling, like the output was fun to watch.
Yeah, I think I echo all those sentiments. If anything, it's just a very exciting prospect for a stage one major team.
Alright, let's throw this to the desk. This day is done.
Yeah, and unfortunately, Astralis done a long side at Game Allegiant, cement top six at the very least here at the Intel Extreme Masters Atlanta 2026.
26 and we do indeed have high facts joining us up here. First of all, congratulations.
Felt like a pretty quick series if we're being honest. How did it feel inside the server?
It felt the same to be honest. So yeah, there's not much I can say. I think we were much better
than them. And we proved after last time the interview hooks he gave saying, yeah, whatever.
I think we just proved that we are much better right now. And yeah, it was good.
Was that an extra motivation for you guys to prove once more that you're a better team than us,
I mean, we are trying to prove our worth right now against every team, obviously every game is at high stakes for us
But yeah, we have that extra motivation also
Is that something you like again just from a view perspective like you use that internally in order to to get the guys
You know up and running and then fire up I guess. Yeah, I mean, we know very well
We laughed about it in the huddle before as well. So yeah
Speaking of you specifically, I feel like you've been stepping it up quite a lot lately
You also in this game had a fantastic clutch and some big moments
Are you starting to feel more and more comfortable within the game on Legion?
Yeah, for sure. And about that close, I have no idea what they did.
I mean, it was weird as hell, to be honest.
I mean, it just happened.
But I feel much more comfortable.
I think we've got it.
Do you want to watch it from our perspective?
Because it was crazy.
Like, I mean, the movement you had in this was absolutely beautiful.
But I guess for Astralis side of things, maybe some misplays,
but you took full advantage of that.
So, yeah, let's roll in and we'll see your reactions.
It's a tough position to be in 1v4, first kill, it gets fine, no mistake here, at this point
what are you thinking?
Even possible?
I saw him, I was like, what?
What's going on?
And then I was surprised, I thought he was diffusing here but then, some ways something
was happening.
Here I know he wasn't, but I know if they push me, I die, because I have low health,
so I just have to take the peek.
And here, yeah, just, I think he panicked a bit.
We love it. It's amazing. Talk to me about the top six as we see it now. Obviously, we've got the likes of vitality. Navi are making it through that ceiling matchup is going on between them and legacy. I think legacy just took the first map in that as well. But you will be playing
in the playoffs? What do you think of the level at the moment?
I think it's hard to say. I don't think they had much games from, if I remember correctly,
so I'm not really sure about their level. It's going to be a good test for us for sure,
especially before the major. This is our last tournament before, so we want to get as far as possible
and then have some time off to improve the things that we did wrong.
I think we kind of always, you know, assume over on the desk that having these deep runs prior to the major,
it's very important for confidence. Like, can you just give us some words from inside the team
insight to the team as to how important it is in the lead up to the major.
I mean, yeah, for sure, especially in our situation, we were, I think, before the Blaster
and we were like top 23, I think, in the world. So obviously, all the points that we had to gain,
I mean, it was hard. If we do really bad in the top two tournaments, then we only got the major
to go with. And obviously, you don't know what's going to happen next season. So we just wanted
to do as good as possible. And finally, I'm happy that we are showing our work. That's the second
place in the row. And then who knows where I happened at the major.
I know it's hard to put value on yourself, you know, and where you currently at
But what would you be satisfied with, you know, heading into the playoffs here now making it in itself a great step
But it's about winning games in the playoffs as well. You didn't forthwith
I guess you expect to beat pain as well and then gain even more experience. I mean, yeah, for sure
It would be nice to win a game
Yeah, we're just gonna take a game a game by game and hopefully we can manage to get as fast possible
Maybe even when if we if we want to I mean, if we can yeah, I mean considering that right like you obviously already face
you know, I think that was his
first red map in the last six
months that he pulled off. So
yeah, I mean, it worked for us.
It worked again today. Who knows
next time maybe we fix it. You
don't know. Well, you've obviously
got Navi potentially at some
point in that playoffs for
first red map in the last six months that he pulled off. I mean, it worked for us. It
worked again today. Who knows next time maybe we'll pick C2. You don't know.
Well, you've obviously got Nabi potentially at some point in that playoffs run depending
on how the brackets fall. Vitality at the moment, do they look beatable?
I mean, as Vitality at the end of the day, no matter how they play, they can show up
with all of their aim game, but I think that we've done it. So yeah, they are beatable,
of course. I mean, they're only human still.
Are you practicing against Vitality? I know they're not practicing at the moment, but
you've had practice experience against them?
Yeah, we've had in the past, but I think it was some time ago now.
I don't think they had as much practice lately, so yeah.
Yeah, playing to you said, like a month without practice?
That's pretty, I mean, they've, I guess, deserved it, right?
They're one of the few teams that can't get away with it.
But do you think that's mental when you hear them saying that?
Still going on to win an event back at Fort Worth?
Obviously, still making it to playoffs here.
I mean, yeah, it's crazy, to be honest.
They're not really, they're probably not fixing much mistakes.
They don't really have time.
They probably just speak about it, but they're all very good at the game.
So, I mean, it's understandable, I think, and they need as much break as possible, I guess,
before the games. If you go to the final and win every tournament, you have barely any breaks.
I'm not talking about really, no.
Exactly.
Suffering from success. Well, success for you, Hybex.
Thank you so much for your time.
Thank you.
Congratulations on letting you get anywhere.
And, yeah, we'll show you in the playoffs.
Wonderful stuff.
Yes, that is game a legion.
Locke's unloaded the final team of the top six to be doing so, Jacob.
Yeah, and what a fashion they did it in.
Not only did they win the game, but they made sure that there was no doubt whatsoever that they were the better team.
And I love the fact that he's coming in and being honest about the fact that, yeah, Hoekse was saying certain stuff in the interview.
I love that!
I love when teams are open about that and honest about that, because of course there's a bit of grudge going on.
And of course they pay attention to what the opposition is saying and what the opponents are saying, whenever they beat you or whatever you beat them.
So it's cool to see a team that is highly motivated and as Janko also made the point earlier,
It feels like every single game, Gamer Legion has played so far in this tournament.
It's been a positive showing. Losing to Navi, that's okay if you're Gamer Legion.
Apart from that, they made a mincemeat out of everyone else they've played so far.
So heading into the playoff and heading in is pain.
I would be a bit scared if I'm the Brazilian guys over there.
Well, speaking of Yankee, we do have them checking in with Astralis after this loss here in Atlanta.
Here with Huxi after their elimination against Gamer Legion.
Huxi, what went wrong?
Well, where did we start?
I don't know. I think it's not usually a problem for us, but I feel like we were not shooting that hat.
And I think that, especially on Mirage, made a huge difference.
I don't know, it's a bit of a flat feeling. I don't really know exactly what went wrong,
because I feel like I didn't see anyone for like half the game, but yeah,
I guess we'll see when we go back and watch.
How much of this can you contribute to the fact that this is your third tournament in five weeks,
two of them being in North America?
I mean, of course it takes some energy to be in the road for that long,
but I think between these two tournaments here in NA,
we had some time to relax and we didn't play that much,
so I don't think it's because we're out of energy.
Of course it's tough to play two games as well in one day, but yeah, as I said, I don't really know.
You guys played the game originally in this exact stage of the tournament back in Krakow
and had a very dominant win last two times, it went another way.
So what's the big difference that you maybe have noticed now compared to that game?
Yeah, I mean, I don't know, as I said, what went exactly wrong in this game.
The front end rivals was full comedy and I mean, that was just sloppy play where I feel like today it was a mix of things, I think.
But yeah, I don't know, exactly. Maybe he's next.
To end on a more positive note, you guys will be starting the Major from Stage 2, almost
a month from here, until then, what's the plan leading up to it?
Well, go home, get a few days off to Reset and then bootcamp and then hopefully we will
come in with a new look.
Alright, thanks so much, Hooksy and Susan.
Yeah, you can kind of feel and see that in the disappointment on the face of Hooksy,
kind of lost for words in terms of your first question there, what went wrong?
Where do we start, right? There wasn't too many positive sports.
Finally, some hard-hitting questions.
Actually, the way he looked before we started the interview was way worse.
I was positively caught off guard a little bit by him joking around,
because, I mean, he was obviously very unhappy with the result.
But yeah, unfortunately, just one of those feelings where you don't really feel like you joined the server,
right, that you connected to the server, and that's going to be disappointing,
regardless of the things that I brought up with them being on the road.
They actually stuck around in between the tournaments,
but it wasn't the best of experiences perhaps in terms of practice and whatnot.
But yeah, obviously still a work in progress for this new Astralis lineup.
Yeah, always tough to lose a game of this importance.
But as you said, it's the fashion they're losing,
at no point where they're part of the game it felt like.
Sure, a bit of a cosmetic comeback here on Ancient Mirage.
Certain moments where it could have gone a bit closer,
But overall, it's pretty clear to say that the game we're leading were not only one step ahead of Astralis in this game.
And as a player, it's the worst feeling where you feel like, as Uxjosa said to you, you know, half the game I didn't see anyone.
You felt like he was out of it, in a sense, and couldn't really impact the game.
And that's the worst way of losing.
At the end of the day, you can only, you know, give it to yourself if you're missing certain shots or you're playing coaches in a way that you wouldn't have liked to.
But if you feel like you're out of it and never really stand a chance to do much, then there's no worse feeling than that.
Yeah, 100%.
Well, with that being said and done that does wrap up the a stream action here. Of course, there is that game still going down the beach
Stream as legacy versus Navi. But let's take a quick recap of each of the respective groups to see exactly what's happened over the past three days. Obviously,
Betboom, they did manage to win that game on the beach stream versus pain. Who would have thunk it? The best team of group A is Betboom.
Just like everyone expected Freya from the group with vitality, food face clan, it's going to be Betboom straight into the semi finals.
after that's been against Pan Gaming, who will be going to the quarters, they'll actually go up against
Gamer Legion and in the lower bracket, no surprise that Vitality still managed to qualify for the play.
It did indeed manage to prevail. Group B on the other side of things, that's a group that is indeed still going on
just in terms of that semi-final qualification, both Navi and Legacy will be gracing at this stage here in Atlanta.
But just a question if you get a little bit more of a relaxed day on Friday.
It's a lot on the line because the loser plays Vitality, so he definitely don't want to be
on that side of the bracket and don't want to have to face Vitality so early in the tournament.
For Legacy, it's a massive opportunity.
They're up 1-0 in that game right now after making a massive comeback.
We could hear that fair.
They were screaming loud.
Yes.
And as Janku said, if your Legacy and you win this game, you go straight into the semi-final
and you face the winner of pain gaming versus game of legion, all of a sudden you're one
game away from making it into a grand final of a big tournament.
So it's massive right now, what's potentially having for legacy.
Okay, so we could still see Navi in Vitaliy on opposite sides.
We could.
If legacy beats Navi, that's the quarterfinal.
It's Vitality Navi in the quarter, winner playing bad boom and legacy waiting for the
winner from...
And if Navi win, then Navi are on the other side of the bracket.
Correct.
Okay, maybe I gave you some false information about that.
Sorry, that happened off-gram.
I sort of really need to out myself, do I?
Either way, it is a little bit of a surprising turn of events in terms of how we're seeing
their distribution there, but that makes it kind of exciting. I love it, particularly at this point
in the calendar when we're ramping up to the major when so many of these teams that we're talking
about are going to be appearing in stage one and stage two respectively as well. It's great to put
themselves through the test and as Pape said to us, you know, this is a confidence booster, right?
You're heading into the most important tournament of the year. Why not get some more experience
and a bit more ego? I wonder if you can. Yeah, absolutely, because if we talk about the major
stage three, okay, it's going to be a smaller environment, but some crowd is going to be there.
So getting just more reps for a guy like Hypex right under his belt
And in that environment is going to be great and pain gaming definitely not the team that they are not going to feel like
They have a good chance against that they looked really solid at this tournament game religion
I've been a little bit surprised by that. So excited to see them
I've to see if they can continue that form going into the playoffs too very much agree
You know as I said to Fred
There's no shame in losing to Navi in a group stage game apart from that
they look super super solid and you know I think it goes without saying that when
you have two teams who are so clear-cut favorite in Vitality and Navi then
everyone else is smelling a bit of blood in the water right you can be that third
guy in the mix and especially if Navi now were to lose to to legacy then if
you're paying if you're game on legion and legacy and you had that side of the
bracket like you're potentially a couple of games from making a big grand
final at a big event so yeah beating Vitality in a best of five grand final if
they get there not likely to happen but just being part of a grand final that's
the right direction for any of
those teams. It was massively
doable to get there as well.
As you could just see by the
schedule. Flight down on the
screen. It says Friday. That's
because we have the day off
tomorrow. Can I get a? Oh, oh,
we'll be back on Friday, though,
and if you fancy more counter
strikers, we were just alluding
to Navi versus legacy that's
still going down on the beach
stream. So either see you over
there or see one Friday that
wraps up day three of the
There's a vision in my mind, it's disconcerting me
Take my confidence, combine with opportunity
Mix it up with unity, soon to be the greatest of my generation
Operation victory
Through fire to fly, we will stay
Through the perils, we dare not to stray
Spot the match, light the flame
How to look out of sight, a danger rush
Dynamite! Dynamite!
I'm not gonna let you go.
Check it.
Ha!
Trouble days, moment nights,
Lot of tears, lot of fights,
Big dreams, never bigger lies,
It ain't what it seems from the outside.
My doubtful they pray,
Will I surrender or will I betray?
Given the trouble that lives in my brain,
I use it to fuel up the power of my veins.
I'm never complaining about something pure,
That there's a battle of power and fuel,
That the wind blows, nothing can do it,
Cause what is it passing depends on your fuel,
The fruits of my labor are underbunders,
Indispensable and non-thunder,
incomprehensible, the red-toned,
When the struggle pushes me out of shovel,
That's for me.
And by the fly,
we will stay through the perils we dare not to stray.
It's far from us,
like the flame,
under the light,
of the science dangerous dynamite.
Dynamite!
Everybody through the shadows,
have the speed of light.
Don't tap the clock.
you by ESL in partnership with Intel, Acer Predator, DHL, Chex, and Zoe.
Rafa, really making history. Absolutely phenomenal.
And Ace is the champion of the Intel Extreme Master World Final.
Still not turned on, and C is gonna tip the spike for a three second flip.
On the two rounds, it's gonna start in one or three a second.
Our mission's a massive move, isn't it?
And he's gonna contact with just the Nexus kill.
Even if that's not gonna happen, she's gonna be able to do it!
And it's all done!
I'm so blessed!
Unbelievable move, when they force their own victory over Clash.
And they did it again!
In the back of the back of the back!
They're going to take some time to set things up here.
Straight through the smoke, not respecting that on the slide, he's taking his control towards B main.
The damage could be a whole lot worse, so not too upset about that one.
Alexi B wants to avoid getting too isolated here in the cave, so he dies back in to join his teammates, but as he does the track, that was risky.
Incendiary conips out, makes us a lot more comfortable through the smoke they go. Emma down, and suddenly danger zone.
Here for Na'Vi, they're locked out of the site on the wrong side of the smoke. This ball's not taken away.
And even with the limitations for legacy, with numbers on B, they can make this work for them.
I don't know how he's starting to close the retreat.
He's starting to close the retreat.
Excuse me, just spam straight through the smoke there.
Wonderful. Still firing up with the op.
It's going to have to be a hero play from this.
I'm thinking about moving through that smoke.
Is there any timing for him?
It's something unto wonderful, but it's
had him with a lonely P2.
50 plexiglas to clean headshot out here.
Now he needs to find Bitt.
No armor form, headshot connected,
but still need to find the kill.
Running low on time is Bitt.
He has a kit.
It's going to be close.
He's got it.
He's got it!
No, he does got it!
Oh my god!
No!
Oh!
Fraction of a second more was all that bit required, but it wasn't to be had.
Legacy sneaked out one past the keeper and they are on the board.
What a showcase of impact right there, Satsun.
And in the corner, gonna face Bit.
Look at this.
I mean, it was done.
Oh my god!
Oh my god, this is it. Just a small little gap.
The tiniest of margins right there, but Satsun just enough.
Now they got the weaponry. Now they got the reinforcements. The Navi are on the back foot.
You need to hold strong here or things could get risky.
They're trying to chase the player off the shelf.
Look at this booze!
Tripled up right over, there's the spot on the one!
Art, trying to not reveal this, trying to keep this going.
Tumbling towers here and Art finds what he was looking for.
I know there's another one as well from the early...